XME:Next Generation (Rewrite)
by jennk101black
Summary: Based on the hit show, X-Men Evolution, this story takes place nearly twenty years later. Over the decades, the members of the X-Men develop their gifts, marry, and have children. The children are sent away for their own safety, and 15 years later, they return to the Institute. Follow the next generation of X-Men as they face foes, learn to navigate the world, and find romance...
1. Prologue

Years after the defeat of the Apocalypse, mutants still faced discrimination and persecution from humans. Nonetheless, some mutants, such as the X-Men, strove to be accepted by doing all they could to show humanity that mutants are good. Even so, many groups of intolerant people have risen against them, the largest being the Anti-Mutant League (AML).

The X-Men themselves have undergone many tremendous changes. The team gain and lost members. Approximately five years after the defeat of the Apocalypse, Professor Charles Xavier, the founder of the X-Men, passed away from an unexpected illness. On his deathbed, Charles told Scott that he would take over as director of the Xavier Institute and leader of the X-Men. Saddened by the death of their founder and leader, the X-Men mourned, but they were able to build themselves back up and keep the Institute in the way that Charles always wanted it.

After high school, Scott went to college and received his Master's Degree to become a professor. Jean got her Doctorate Degree in medicine, becoming the resident medical doctor of the Institute. Scott and Jean got married and soon afterward, Jean gave birth to their twins: Jacob Xavier Summers and Rachel Summers.

Remy LeBeau aka Gambit abandoned his loyalty to Magneto to join the X-Men and be with his lover, Rogue. Hank McCoy aka Beast, developed a cure for Rogue's uncontrollable power, which restricted her from touching people. Due to this, she could be close with Remy, and they ended up having a daughter, Renea LeBeau. Soon afterward, they tied the knock, becoming married.

Kurt Wagner and Amanda Sefton's relationship only became stronger as the years went by. When Amanda was twenty she became a mutant, gaining magical abilities. She went by the codename Daytripper and joined the X-Men. She and Kurt got married and soon thereafter had a son, Adam James Wagner. Two years after his birth, they had a daughter, Talia Josephine Wagner.

Kitty Pryde and Lance Alvers led a tumultuous relationship, all culminating to a hookup, in which Kitty wound up pregnant with their twins Daniel and Katrina Pryde. When she first found out about her pregnancy she went to the Brotherhood house and told Lance, expecting him to abandon his criminal lifestyle and help her raise their kids, but his reaction could not have been more opposite. He shut the door in her face, practically telling her to raise them herself.

With the help and support from the Xavier Institute, Danielle Moonstar was able to gain control of her abilities. She joined the team and during Evan's visit back to the Institute they got together. She ended up getting pregnant with their son, Johnathan Moonstar, but Evan told her that he couldn't stay and help her raise him because he had to go back to the Morlocks. He left her to raise their son alone. A year later, Evan and Callisto ended up having a daughter they named Tonya Daniels. Callisto and Evan agreed to send Tonya to stay with Ororo at the Xavier Institute, believing that little Tonya wasn't ready for life as a Morlock.

Everything at the Xavier Institute was peaceful for a while as the X-Men family grew, but that peace did not last long. The Anti-Mutant League bombed the institute one night when the defenses were down. The children were mere babies and young toddlers when the bombs went off in their home. Their kids barely made it out alive. The X-Men all sat down together and considered the danger that their children were in. They would like to think of the Institute as a sanctuary for mutants, but truthfully, since they got exposed, it has been more insecure.

The day of the conversation, they had all gathered in the planning room, Scott sitting at the head of the table with his hands intertwined as he thought hard. The room was full of noise as the others spoke about what to do, all of their voices blending together into a sort of clamor. Scott suddenly spoke up above all the noise, "we must send our children away for their own safety."

He received complete looks of shock, confusion, and refusal. Initially, his idea was met with opposition in the forms of "No way!", "No one is taking my babies!", and "The safest place for my children is with me," but soon all came to realize that this was the best course of action. The X-Men, with assistance from S.H.I.E.L.D., were able to put their children in secret locations where the children would be raised by S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, receive different last names, and live with their powers in secret.

Rachel and Jacob were sent to Denver, Colorado with Agent Lucy Aimes.

Renea was sent to Los Angeles, California with Agent Susan Mikaelson.

Talia and Adam were sent to Tampa, Florida with Agent Marina Santos.

Danny and Katrina Pryde were sent to Brooklyn, New York with Agent William Smith.

Johnny and Tonya were sent to San Antonio, Texas with Agent Anna Winters.

 **Rachel:**

Age: 17

Hair color: Red/orange

Eye color: Green

Height: 5'6

Alias: Starchilde

Powers: Fire generation and pyrokinesis

 **Jacob "Jake":**

Age: 17

Hair color: Red/orange

Eye color: Brown

Height: 6'1

Alias: Grey

Powers: Telepathy, telekinesis, and psychokinesis

 **Renea:**

Age: 16

Hair color: Dark brown

Eye color: Brown

Height: 5'7

Alias: Ren

Powers: To covert potential energy in an object into kinetic energy, thus "charging" the item with explosive results

 **Adam:**

Age: 17

Hair color: Black

Eye color: Brown

Height: 6'2

Alias: Nightshade

Powers: Night vision and teleportation

 **Talia:**

Age: 15

Hair color: Black

Eye color: Yellow (Brown when wearing image inducer)

Height: 5'4

Alias: Nocturne

Powers: Heightened agility and reflexes, night vision, and mystical force bolts (and other sorcery).

 **Daniel "Danny":**

Age: 15

Hair color: Brown

Eye color: Brown

Height: 5'7

Alias: Ghost

Powers: Invisibility and ability to pass through any matter, known as "phasing" and gravity phasing.

 **Katrina "Kat":**

Age: 15

Hair color: Brown

Eye color: Green

Height: 5'5

Alias: Quake

Powers: Geological manipulation by seismic wave generation from her hands.

 **Johnathan "Johnny":**

Age: 15

Hair color: Black

Eye color: Brown

Height: 5'9

Alias: Mirage

Powers: Psionic abilities including the ability to make people experience their greatest fears in powerful surreal illusions and telepathy

 **Tonya:**

Age: 15

Hair color: Black

Eye color: Brown

Height: 5'2

Alias: Marrow

Powers: Ability to generate burning spikes, projectile spikes, and bone spikes


	2. Chapter 1: Captured

**A/N: Hello again! I'm back with the first official chapter of the story. This honestly took me forever to write, so I hope you enjoy it...**

 **15 YEARS LATER:**

 _Dear Diary,_

 _my brother, Jake, and I live in Denver, Colorado with our foster mother, Agent Lucy Aimes. She's the only mother we've ever known since our birth parents are MIA. Lucy is a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, but she has still managed to raise Jake and me like relatively normal kids. We go to school every day and hang out with friends. Jake is on the varsity basketball team at our high school and I am the vice president of our student body. Nonetheless, we live with a secret that never leaves our house. We're mutants. I have the ability to control and generate fire while Jake can read minds and move things with his mind. It's pretty cool, but Lucy has always raised us to keep these powers a secret for our own safety. I can't help but wonder if our birth parents were mutants too- I mean that would explain why Jake and I are mutants. We think that Lucy knows about them, that she knows who they are and what happened to them, but she won't give us any information. To make things more suspicious, it is impossible for Jake to breach her mind with his telepathic powers. So, Jake and I sometimes fantasize about what our birth parents are like. I imagine that they are billionaire S.H.I.E.L.D. agents who were captured by Hydra. Jake once joked that our parents are members of the X-men. Ha! That would be hilarious! The X-men are a group of mutants in Bayville who fight crime like superheroes. The government kind of hates them though. Anyway, Lucy is on a mission, so she left us home alone._

Rachel stopped writing in her diary when she heard a loud knock at the front door. She had been sitting on her bed writing away until the repeated knock summoned her to the door. She hustled down the steps. She thought Jake forgot his key again and locked himself out. Earlier, he had gone outside to play basketball.

When she reached the bottom of the steps, the loud knock continued.

"Alright-Alright," she said.

She opened the door and her jaw dropped in shock. Standing in the doorway was a pair of tall men, each dressed in all black and equipped with guns. One of the men held a tight grip on Jake's arm and had his pistol aimed at her brother's head, while the other aimed his rifle at her.

Jake and Rachel exchanged a look of fear.

One of the men said, "You're coming with us."

 **BAYVILLE, NEW YORK:**

An ominous black van pulled up to the building known as the Anti-Mutant League headquarters and stopped just before the front doors. A muscular man with a rifle slung across his shoulder got out of the driver's seat, followed by his comrade in the passenger's seat. They went around to the back of the van and opened the doors. He pulled an unconscious teenage girl from the van and his friend pulled an unconscious teenage boy. They shut the van doors and proceeded into the building, carrying the captives.

As they walked in they were met by a tall blonde middle-aged man with a black leather jacket on. On his jacket was a badge that said AML commander.

"Who are these?" He asked.

"Katrina and Daniel Pryde, Commander Matthews. Where do you want them?" One of the men inquired.

"Put them with the others," Matthews said absentmindedly.

The men carried the teens down a hallway and down a flight of steps to a dark room full of tables, vials of chemicals, and small cells with rusted metal bars.

They threw Danny in a cell and Kat in another.  
The thud of the fall awakened Kat just as the man locked her cell closed. The two men left the room, shutting the door behind them.

Kat slowly stirred, taking in her surroundings with fear and confusion running through her mind. The room had a basement-like eeriness. The stone ceilings, full of cracks and withered by age leaked a rancid smelling liquid. Kat placed the palm of her hand on her forehead. She had a throbbing headache and it seemed as if the room was spinning as she called, "Danny. Danny!"

"Kat...where are we?" he asked drowsily from across the room in his own cell.

"I don't know, but I'm gonna get us out of here," Kat said.

Suddenly, from another cell, a female voice said, "Don't use your powers," the girl pointed to a small black square shaped machine in the corner of the cell, "If you do, that thing will electrocute you. I know. I've tried."

"Who are you?" Kat asked.

"I'm Rachel and this is my brother Jake." Jake was in the cell beside Rachel's, laying beside the bars, with a blank expression on his face.

Kat spoke: "Are you a-"

"-a mutant? Yes. We all are that's why they brought us here..." Rachel said.

"And where exactly is here?" Danny inquired.

"The Anti-mutant League," she answered.

"We have to get out of here," Danny said quietly.

"How long have you been here?" Kat asked.

Rachel thought for a moment, "I don't know. Maybe a day..."

"Are we the only ones?" Kat asked.

"No," Rachel motioned to the other cells, "There is Johnny and Tonya and a girl who's been unconscious since they brought her here...I hope she's okay.." Rachel explained.

The unconscious girl lay in the cell beside Jake's. She had long brown hair and a peach complexion with a sun-kissed glow.

All of a sudden, the door slammed open, and in walked a pair of men dragging in two unconscious mutants. The men locked the two mutants in empty cells, then left the room almost as quickly as they walked in.

One of the new occupants was a boy, who looked about 17. He began to awaken in his cell. Once his brain processed what was going on, he looked through the bars of his cell, looking for his sister.

"Talia! Talia!" he called.

She lay in her cell, motionless.

"Oh my God," he muttered worriedly as he ran his hand through his jet black hair.

"Dude, just relax," Jake whispered.

"Relax? Relax! Who are you people?" Adam asked.

Rachel said, "We're mutants just like you..okay? We were kidnapped by the Anti-mutant League. You can't use your powers because they have these cells riddled with technology that eletro-shocks us when we use our powers."

Adam nodded understandingly, taking in the information.

He stepped forward into the dim light of his cell. Everyone got a good look at him. Adam, similar to his sister, had light blue toned skin and pointed ears. Unlike his sister, his eyes were a dark brown, while hers were a pale yellow. He also had a prehensile tail.

They all had expressions of shock on their faces when they saw him.

"Not exactly like me..." he said.

Kat looked over at the metal instrument table in the center of the room and the table beside it covered with unnamed chemicals and long syringes. She felt sick to her stomach as thoughts of what these people might due to them entered her mind.

She looked at Rachel, "I'm scared..." she whispered.

Rachel, her green eyes large with fear answered, "I am too."

 **A/N: So, how did you enjoy it? Feel free to comment your thoughts and opinions on the chapter and be sure to vote!**


	3. Chapter 2: Hydromassian

**XAVIER INSTITUTE:**

Rogue was walking down the hallway on the way to her bedroom that night. She had gotten up to grab a glass of water. In her long black satin robe and matching black slippers, she walked into her bedroom, where her husband, Remy, was sitting on their bed, intently staring at his cellphone. She stared at him questioningly before placing the glass on the bedside table and sitting down on the bed.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" she inquired.

Remy glanced up at her.

"Oh no nothin' important, chéri," he answered as he returned his thoughtful gaze to his phone.

Rogue sat still for a moment, then lunged at him, taking his phone out of his hands.

"Hey!" he shouted.

She looked at the screen and saw that he was on Instagram. It was a newer social media site that she wasn't very familiar with. There was a picture of a girl, who looked about 16. She had long brown hair and deep brown eyes. In the picture, the girl was sitting on a tall smooth boulder, smiling a closed-mouth smile. The sun was bright behind her, making her skin appear to be golden.

Rogue slowly looked at her husband, "Is this..?"

Remy sighed, "Yes- it's Renea. I found her page on Instagram, and..I-I just couldn't help myself, Rogue. I followed her."

Rogue looked away from the picture handing him his phone back.

"You know what Scott said-"

"WHo cares what Scott said! She's our babygirl," Remy held the phone in her face, "look at her! She's beautiful."

Rogue pushed it away, "I can't- Gosh darn it, Remy! You know that having contact with her puts her in danger!"

Remy responded, "I used a fake account. I wish you would stop acting like our daughter never existed!"

Rogue turned to him with an enraged look in her eyes, "HOW DARE YOU! There ain't one second that I don't think about her, but I'm not willing to put her in jeopardy!" she shouted, her country accent coming through.

Remy sighed, his eyes softening. He turned to her and said softly, "I'm sorry, Rogue."

 **AML HEADQUARTERS:**

Adam sat in his cell patiently waiting for his sister to wake up, sporadically calling her name, receiving no response. He looked down at his shoes as the sound of the dripping ceiling placated his nerves. It was no lie that he was afraid- no- terrified! He and his sister, Talia, had lived in peace for nearly their entire lives and now, this happens.

He and Talia have lived with their foster mother, Agent Marina Santos, in Tampa, Florida, keeping their mutant secret hidden by wearing image inducers. Adam was the captain of the soccer team and one of the most popular guys at school. His peers loved him, but that's because they didn't know what he was. Talia, on the other hand, was more reserved. She had a circle of friends and participated in the theater department at school. Both siblings had successful social lives and both were careful to keep their identities a secret. So, how did this happen? How did they get captured? These questions ran through Adam's mind. The only people that knew their secret was S.H.I.E.L.D. the organization that Marina worked for. When they were kidnapped by the AML, Talia and Adam had their image inducers stolen.

Suddenly, he was awakened from his thoughts by the boisterous opening of the door.

The sound of strident footsteps became louder and louder as the small group of people entered the room. One of them was Commander Matthews. Beside him was a short man who had a withered an aged appearance. His hair was in matted tufts on the sides of his head, and he wore a stained off-white lab coat that had the words Dr. Walton stitched over the pocket. The other notable man was Mayor Edward Kelly, the mayor of Bayville. The mayor was in a pristine navy blue dress suit. His hair had gone completely gray from his countless years of hating mutants and his face was adorned with wrinkles. He looked at each of the kids in the cells with an expression of pure disgust.

He turned to Dr. Walton, "Is it ready?"

With a devilish smirk on his worn face, the Doctor responded, "It is."

The kids sat nervously and silently in their cells as the Doctor scuffled over to one of his tables and grabbed a vial of a blue liquid. He stared at it intently as he turned it over in his hand.

"Hydromassian. The first chemical deadly to all mutants..." the Commander stated jovially.

The Doctor looked up at him, "Actually, this is merely the prototype. It may or may not work."

"How about we test it then," the Mayor said.

The teens froze with fear.

The Commander looked into each of the cells silently choosing which of the young mutants would be their test subject, when his eyes fell upon Kat.

He pointed at her cell, "Her."

Kat's heart began to race as a pair of AML men marched toward her. They unlocked her cell and pulled her from the cell into the center of the room, into the Commander's grasp. He looked at her for a moment. From the sight of it, she was a normal girl. She had long flowing brown hair and a beautiful face to match, but he knew that she was mutant scum just like the rest of them.

"Will she do, Doctor?" he asked.

Doctor Walton nodded absentmindedly as he filled the syringe with the blue liquid.

Her heart raced as the men led her to the steel instrument table and began to strap her to it. She was powerless against them, them being much stronger than her, and she could not use her powers because there were men lined up around the room pointing their guns at her.

"Please! Please, don't do this!" she cried, her green eyes large with fear.

Her cries for mercy rang through her twin brother's ears. Danny punched the bars of his cell, screaming, not even noticing the pain as his adrenaline was too high. He felt helpless, unable to do anything as some nutty doctor prepared to pump some poison into his sister's veins. Danny glanced at the small square machine in the corner of his cell. The machine would apparently send a shockwave of electricity through his body if he used his powers, but at this moment he didn't care. He squinted his eyes. He had to save his sister.

Danny pressed his hand to the bars of his cell and the moment the tip of his fingers began to go through the rusted metal of the cell bar, the box emitted a flash and he was out cold on the cell floor.

Kat screamed, "Danny!"

The Doctor said, "sit still."

He plunged the large syringe needle into her arm and pushed the liquid into her veins.

 **XAVIER INSTITUTE: **

The atmosphere was still and peaceful in Scott and Jean's bedroom that night. The digital alarm clock on the bedside table read 3:00 a.m. and the married couple was fast asleep, but Jean's dreams weren't at all peaceful. Since last evening she had a bad feeling about something, but she didn't know why. It was like a nagging feeling of danger, that only heightened over time. In her dream, she was holding her son, Jacob. He was merely two years old. She smiled as she held him against her chest, embracing him tenderly, breathing in his fresh baby-like scent. Suddenly, he pulled away from her and stared into her eyes with a blank expression on his face and clearly spoke the words, "Mommy...I'm in danger." Then, he hopped off of her lap entirely and stood in front of her. She watched as in a matter of seconds her small child morphed into a teenage boy. His blank expression morphed into one of fear and horror as he screamed, "Help me! Mother! Please!" All of a sudden his form was engulfed by a cloud of darkness.

Jean tossed and turned in bed, then awoke with a scream.

Scott shifted awake beside her, "Jean, what's wrong?"

She sat silently, trying to catch her breath as her heart raced.

Jean looked up at her husband and slowly said, "I think our kids are in danger.."

Scott gave her a puzzled look which was apparent even under his glasses.

"I've had a bad feeling all day. I can't ignore it anymore... Our kids need us, Scott," she said earnestly

Scott grasped her arm tenderly, "Jean, relax. It was just a bad dream."

Jean shook her head, "No! It wasn't just a bad dream!"

Suddenly, their bedroom door bolted open. Kurt was standing in the doorway, in his pajamas with a serious look on his face, "Guys, there's something you should see."

All of the X-men had assembled in the Cerebro room when Jean and Scott arrived.

"What is it?" Scott asked.

Kitty said, "Cerebro has been extremely active all of a sudden. It says it found nine mutants at once-"

"Apparently in the same location," Hank finished.

Jean walked to the chair and sat down. She placed the Cerebro helmet onto her head and began to absorb the information into her mind. The data showed that the mutant signal came from the address 1315 Avinton Avenue in their own town, Bayville, then it showed each of the faces of the young mutants.

She pulled the helmet off slowly, her lips slightly parted in shock.

"What is it, Jean?" Scott asked from beside her.

"Our kids..." she muttered quietly.

Kitty, who sat beside her turned to her with a look of confusion and said, "What do mean?"

Jean pressed a button on the keyboard, and all of a sudden, pictures of each of their children paired with their biographical information appeared on the screen.

Kitty placed her hand over her mouth as a small gasp escaped her lips, "No..." she said quietly.

"Does anyone know where 1315 Avinton Avenue is?" Jean asked.

Ororo thought for a moment. She had been heavily involved in mutant politics and media since she was a primary member of the X-Men. She would often attend court proceedings on behalf of innocent mutants and speak out on live TV about the Mutant Cause. She suddenly looked at Jean, "You said 1315 Avinton Avenue that's... the Anti-mutant League headquarters."

 **AML HEADQUARTERS:**

During the commotion in the room, Talia came back to consciousness, completely oblivious to what was going on. She was scared and confused, but then she saw a familiar face. Her brother Adam was in the cell across from hers, on the other side of the small room. Their eyes met. Just as Talia was about to speak, Adam discreetly placed his pointer finger over his lips, signaling that she remain quiet.

Kat lay strapped to the metal instrument table. Her eyelids fell heavy as the toxic injected into her veins quickly coursed its way through her bloodstream. Liquid began turning her veins a pale blue color as it spread.

"Looks like it worked..." Observed Commander Matthews.

Doctor Walton stood puzzled over the girl, "I don't know... I feel that I should run some more tests-"

Mayor Kelly chimed in, "Nonsense! Let's use it on the rest of them."

* * *

The X-Men had suited up and loaded into the X-Jet (the SR-77 Blackbird). Without wasting any time, Cyclops flew the jet out of the hangar, taking into the air. The GPS navigating system in the jet shown the location they were heading toward as a bright red dot.

Kitty sat further back in the X-Jet beside Danielle and Rogue.

"I just don't get it," Kitty said, "We sent our kids to S.H.I.E.L.D. so they would be safe...and then this happens."

She could not help but think: What if they don't make it in time. The fear of losing her kids froze her at her core with terror. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if anything were to happen to them.

 ***Flashback***

It was six in the afternoon and the rain beat down hard on the city of Bayville. A storm brewed up in the air as sounds of thunder wracked the skies. Kitty had just stepped into the mansion, her hair and clothes soaked from being outside in the rain. Cold and went, she wrapped her arms around herself as she stood alone in the foyer. Kitty had just returned from the Brotherhood house. She had tried to get Lance to see his kids, but he refused. He made it perfectly clear that he didn't want anything to do with Danny, Katrina, or her. In the solitude of the room, Kitty broke down. Tears ran down her cheeks uncontrollably as stifled sobs left her lips. She didn't want her twins to grow up without their father and she couldn't understand how Lance could be so heartless toward his own children..to her.

The rain poured outside as she made her way up the stairs to her room. Danny and Kat were four months old and they slept with her in her room. While she was out, Danielle watched them. Danielle also had her son, Johnny, who was also an infant.

Kitty walked into the room.

Danielle was sitting on a rocking chair as she rocked Danny to sleep.

"How did it go?" Danielle whispered.

Kitty turned away from her, and wiped her eyes with her shirt sleeve, "Not well..."

Once Danny was asleep, Danielle placed him in his cradle. Katrina was also peacefully asleep in her own cradle.

"I'm so sorry, Kitty," Danielle said.

Kitty approached the cradles, her eyes pouring over her perfectly peaceful babies, slumbering away in their cradles, completely oblivious to the trouble in their lives.

"I just wanted them to have a father.." Kitty sobbed.

Danielle wrapped her arms around her and embraced her comfortingly.

"You're my best friend. You were there when I needed you most. You saved my life. Trust me when I tell you that I will help you. You are not alone, Kitty."

"Thank you so much," Kitty said as she composed herself.

Danielle picked up her son, Johnny, and left the room.

Kitty looked down at the twins' serene little faces. Kitty leaned forward and kissed Katrina's forehead, then Danny's.

"I promise that I will always protect you. I will never abandon you," she whispered softly to them.

 ***End of flashback***

Kitty trembled where she sat, her small hands balled up into tight fists, rested on the arms of her chair. Danielle grasped her hand comfortingly.

"You're right, Kitty. It doesn't make sense, but when I find whoever took my daughter, they will be very sorry," Rogue said.

The jet soared high above the city of Bayville, moving toward the more rural areas, where the buildings were more dispersed and the landscape was made up of hills and fields. As the neared the AML headquarters, they saw it in the distance. It was a four-story abandoned mill with a rusted metal fence surrounding its borders.

* * *

Meanwhile, within the confines of the AML headquarters, the young mutants watched in horror as Katrina lay unmoving on the instrument table. The Commander had her lifeless body removed from the table as Dr. Walton prepared for the next victim.

"Which one of you mutants wants to go next?" Commander Matthews shouted cruelly.

His eyes fell upon Talia's scared and confused figure as she sat curled up in her cell. She peeked through her long strands of dark hair at the malevolent Commander's eyes staring at her.

"How about you?" he said.

Talia lurched back in her cell as a pair of men proceeded to unlock her cell. She screamed and shouted, helplessly struggling as the men grabbed her and strapped her to the table.

"No! Please!" Adam begged.

Commander Matthews turned his attention to the blue mutant.

"Please let her go! She's my little sister! She's only 15! Please take me instead..." he pleaded.

Matthews gave Mayor Kelly a quick glance before he approached Adam's cell. As his face neared the bars, his lips formed a malicious smirk, "Don't worry, you'll join her soon."

Suddenly, a loud beeping noise came from the Commander's pocket. He pulled out his cell phone and read the alert that flashed across his screen. His eyes widened.

"What is it?" Mayor Kelly asked.

Matthews looked up from his phone with a blank expression on his face,

"The X-Men have arrived."

 **A/N: That's all for this chapter. Don't forget to Review. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 3: Rescue

**AML HEADQUARTERS:**

X-Men burst in through the front doors of the building and were immediately met by dozens of AML members equipped with machine guns.

One of the men standing at the front of the group, pointing his gun in the direction of the X-Men, spoke, "Leave. You mutants aren't wanted here."

Scott responded, "We don't want a fight. Just give us the mutants you captured, and we will leave."

A voice from above answered, "I'm sorry, but we can't do that. You see, we need those mutants for some experimentation that we're working on." It was Commander Matthews, standing on a high balcony, his cruel voice raining down on the situation below. He looked down, and to his delight, he saw the X-Men completely surrounded by his AML soldiers.

"Well then, you're asking for a fight-" Scott said, and with that, he shot a beam from his vizor, knocking out the first line of men while the other X-Men took to action.

Jean, followed by Kurt, Kitty, and Gambit headed to the basement of the building, pealing through hoards of AML soldiers. Jean followed the telepathic signal she was receiving from the children, leading the group stridently.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dr. Walton and Mayor Kelly overheard the sounds of people quickly approaching the room as well as the sounds of commotion from above as the X-Men fought against the AML soldiers.

From the sounds of it, the AML was losing, and the Mayor knew that if they were captured by the X-Men he would most likely have to resign from his position as Mayor, and Dr. Walton would have to stop his development of the Hydromassian, or as Kelly liked to call it, "Man's greatest weapon against mutants".

"They're coming. We have to leave," the Mayor said to Doctor Walton urgently.

The Doctor quickly grabbed all of his remaining vials of the liquid Hydromassian.

In the corner of the small room was a dark wooden door which led to stairs. The stairs would take them to the roof of the building, and on the roof of the building resided the Mayor's helicopter.

As the footsteps got closer, the Mayor and Dr. Walton bolted for that wooden door and quickly headed up the staircase to the roof of the building.

As soon as they were gone, another door opened, and in walked Jean, Kurt, Kitty, and Gambit.

The first thing that caught the Nightcrawler's eye when he entered the room was the blue-skinned girl strapped to the instrument table. He approached the table slowly and realized that he recognized the girl as Talia, his daughter. She was beautiful and definitely showed a resemblance to him, but her facial features reminded him of her mother, Amanda.

"Who are you..." Talia whispered in fright as she looked at the strange man.

Kurt suddenly broke out of the trance. His yellow eyes met hers. For some reason, she felt a sort of comfort as she stared at this strange looking man. Something in his eyes told her that he wouldn't hurt her. He unstrapped her from the metal instrument table.

The loud upheaval succeeded in waking Renea and Danny from their unconsciousness. Danny was puzzled when he saw the strange adults with X's on their clothes enter the room. He could tell that they were mutants since one of them, a blue fuzzy guy with a prehensile tail, didn't look very human. As his thoughts focused he remembered what happened to Kat. He looked at the instrument table saw that it was empty. So where was Kat? He frantically scanned the room, when his eyes fell upon a very strangely familiar looking face. The face that struck him as familiar belonged to one of the adult mutants. Everything about her from her face to her physical build resembled Kat. The woman was crouched on the floor, holding something or someone. Danny peered closer, and to his surprise, she was holding his unconscious sister in her arms.

Meanwhile, in this short span of time, Jean and Gambit approached the cells, to try and free the young mutants.

Jean stood by Rachel and Jake's cells, "Everything is going to be okay. We're are going to get you out of here."

"You're the X-Men," Rachel said in astoundment as one of the most primary members of the X-Men stood just in front of her.

Jean smiled weakly. Under better circumstances, she would be much happier to see her daughter and son again, but her primary concern was to find a way to get them out of these cells and away from danger.

"Wait," Rachel said, "these cells are riddled with these small devices that will electrocute us if you use your powers to break us out."

Jean thought for a moment, then she placed both of her hands on the temples of her head as she sent a telepathic message to Scott, " _you have to shut down the power circuit. It's on the 3rd floor._ "

Meanwhile, on the floor above the basement, the X-Men were gaining the upper hand against the AML soldiers. In response to Jean's message, Scott broke away from the fighting along with Rogue and they headed up the staircase, toward the control room.

* * *

In the control room, Commander Matthews sat at the computer typing away viciously as he had to soon make his escape. Once he stopped typing, a red box appeared on the screen with numbers counting down from five minutes, and from the computer came a voice saying, "Five minutes until detonation."

Just as he stood up from the chair, Cyclops and Rogue walked into the room.

"You're not going anywhere, Duncan," Scott said with an air of angry disgust in his voice.

Duncan smirked, "I don't know about you, Summers, but I'm getting out of here before this place blows to bits." With that, Duncan ran to the back of the room and through a passageway out of the room.

Scott and Rogue took to the computer, trying anxiously to stop the bomb timer, but they needed a password, which they didn't know.

"Forget the timer, let's shut down the power circuit and high-tail it outta' here," Rogue said. The timer was down to 3 minutes and 45 seconds.

Scott glanced nervously at the timer as the numbers ran lower and lower with each passing moment, then came to the conclusion that Rogue was right. They backed away from the computer and Scott shot a red beam from his visor. Just after he did so, the computer screen went black and all the lights in the building shut off.

"Well, that takes care of the bomb," Rogue said. Just as she finished her sentence, the detonation timer reappeared on the screen showing that they have only 3 minutes and 12 seconds remaining.

"Spoke too soon..."

* * *

In the basement room, Gambit and Jean could finally break each of the young mutants out of their cells. As they did so, Jean got in touch with Scott telepathically, " _The power is out, and we got the kids_."

Scott responded, " _Get out of there, now! We have 3 minutes before this place blows!"_

Jean urgently ushered everyone back the way they came. When the hoard of young mutants and X-Men finally reached the rest of the X-Men, they saw that all of the AML soldiers lie defeated in the foyer. They wasted no time and charged out of the building, toward the X-Jet.

When everyone was securely on the X-Jet, the AML building exploded with a large blinding flash, sending debris, shrapnel, and charred dust into the air.

The X-Jet took off into the sky, leaving the disastrous scene behind.

Due to Katrina's critical condition, she was taken into the back of the X-Jet where there was a secluded little room with medical supplies. With her were Jean, Kitty, and Danny.

Katrina was given oxygen and hooked up to a heart monitor machine. Although her heart rate seemed stable, Jean observed that the girl was unresponsive.

Danny sat beside his sister, holding her hand in a tight yet tender grasp.

"Is-is she gonna be okay?" he asked.

"She's going to be fine. We just have to get her to the infirmary at the Institute. I have an entire team of doctors and we can figure out what exactly is wrong with her. But, for now, we have her in a stable condition," Jean answered.

Jean walked out of the small room, leaving Kitty with her kids.

Kitty slowly approached them, taking a seat on the other side of her daughter.

Her eyes were brimming with tears as she looked at her daughter, lying there, hooked up to all of those machines just to stay alive.

"I'm so sorry," Kitty said.

Danny's eyes became overrun with tears as he stared down at his sister.

"I can't lose her. I can't!" He cried between sobs, "She's all I have. She's the only family I have. Please, Miss, don't let my sister die.."

Kitty placed her hand on his as she fought to hold back her own tears.

* * *

At the upper part of the jet, the young mutants all sat together.

"Where do you think they're taking us?" Adam whispered to his peers. He couldn't shake this feeling of suspiciousness he had toward this group of mutants called the X-Men.

"Probably the Xavier Institute," Rachel said with awe in her voice and her eyes practically sparkling with wonder. She had always dreamed of visiting the Xavier Institute, and she had always imagined that the pictures online didn't do it justice.

"What is the Xavier Institute?" Talia asked. Most of the other young mutants wondered the same thing as Rachel and Jake were the only ones who appeared to be familiar with the X-Men.

"It's a home for mutants," Rachel explained.

Their conversation was cut short when they spotted Jean approaching from the back room.

Rachel asked her, "How is Kat?"

Jean answered, "We've stabilized her."

"Is she gonna be okay?" Talia asked concernedly.

"We're going to do all we can," Jean answered straightforwardly.

Meanwhile, while the young mutants talked amongst themselves, Jean joined Scott and the other X-Men at the very front of the jet.

"Scott, are we going to tell them?" She asked.

Scott sat beside Kurt, flying the jet back toward the Institute. His facial expression changed when Jean asked him that question because he knew exactly what she was referring to.

"Let's get them to the Institute first," was all he said.

 **A/N : So, that's all for this chapter. I tried to keep it shorter because longer chapters take longer to post. Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll be back soon with another chapter! **


	5. Chapter 4: Truth

The moon was still shining through the pitch-black night when Scott flew the X-Jet into the hangar. The X-Men ushered the young mutants into the Xavier Institute, and Katrina was urgently taken to the infirmary area of the institute, which was staffed with doctors who worked alongside Jean.

Jean brought the unconscious Katrina into the observation room so she could figure out what exactly the toxin did to her and if it could be reversed. Meanwhile, Danny sat just outside of the room, anxiously waiting for Jean's conclusion about his sister. At this point, he didn't know what would happen. His heart beat hard in his chest, and his hands were sweaty at the palms as he sat there feeling helpless. If his sister didn't pull through, he didn't know what he would do. She was all he had. She was the only family he had...or so he thought.

* * *

Kitty rushed toward the infirmary. She didn't even bother to change out of her X-Men uniform as she ushered down the halls to see if her daughter was okay.

From behind she heard Scott call her name, "Kitty!"

She hesitated, then turned around to face him and stood, waiting for him to approach.

"Kitty, I know you have to be there for your daughter...but don't tell them yet. Don't tell them that you're their mother," Scott said.

Kitty looked at him in a puzzled way.

"Just let me talk to the S.H.I.E.L.D. representatives first," he said. He placed his hand on her shoulder comfortingly, "It's going to be okay, Kitty. We have to do this to keep them safe."

Kitty shrugged away from him, "If giving them away kept them safe, then my daughter wouldn't be in the infirmary fighting for her life right now!" she exclaimed. She turned away from him and hurried to the infirmary.

* * *

The other young mutants resided in one of the many parlors of the Institute. As they looked around curiously, they were struck with awe by the elegant yet modest decor. Rachel smiled to herself. It was just as amazing as she thought it would be. The cream-colored walls, intricately fashioned carpets, and a large crystal chandelier in the center of the room took her breath away.

With them in the parlor were the X-Men, excluding Kitty, Jean, and Scott.

There was a large flat screen TV in the room, broadcasting the local Bayville news. It was going live about the explosion at the abandoned mill on 1315 Avinton Avenue. The young mutants and adults sat and watched it attentively as a way to fill the void created by the awkward silence.

* * *

Scott walked through the halls with Nick Fury by his side. Nick had just arrived by helicopter to the Xavier Institute, regarding the young mutants. Scott led the S.H.I.E.L.D leader to his study, and they sat down to speak.

"Our files on your kids were hacked by a double agent in our association," Nick explained, "That agent sold the files to the AML, which is how they knew where to find the kids."

Scott asked, "So the kids' information is out there? For the world to see?"

Fury leaned forward in his chair and said, "The kids are exposed. I'm sorry, Scott. I'm sorry that this happened."

Scott sighed, "No- you've done more than enough over the past 15 years. Thank you."

Scott shook hands with Fury before he departed. Scott sat alone in his study, running his hands through his short brown hair, wondering what to do next.

* * *

Kitty walked into the waiting room, as Danny sat alone with his thoughts, his hands deep in his hoodie pocket. She took a seat beside him. He glanced up at her, his brown eyes large with timorous apprehensive wonder.

"How's Kat? Is she gonna be okay?" He asked without taking a breath in between his words.

"I-I don't know..." Kitty stammered. She fought to hold back her tears. She had to be strong for her son.

He turned away from her. "Who are you?" he asked slightly above a whisper.

"Kitty Pryde," she said.

"I'm Danny Smith." Danny sighed heavily, his heart feeling laden with unceasing anguish, "Kat and I are foster kids. Our parents- whoever they are- gave us up," he looked down at his lap, "She's the only family I have. If I lose her I have no one-"

Kitty reached over and grasped his hand as a tear strayed down her face. Without giving a thought to the words that came from her mouth, Kitty said, "That's not true because I'm your mother."

Danny turned to her slowly, his mouth ajar as multitudes of questions ran through his head, "What?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Jean and her fellow doctors took traces of Kat's blood and began testing it. Hank McCoy took a look at one of the samples under the microscope and reported his findings to Jean.

He said, "It seems that at first, the chemical bonded itself to her blood cells-"

"So it's not lethal?" Jean asked.

"No. It only succeeded in quickly stripping the oxygen from her blood, but as time goes on, it seems to be dissipating," he observed.

Jean sighed a sigh of relief, placing her hand over her heart, "that's great."

* * *

Danny pulled his hand away from hers, "What do you mean, you're my mother?" he asked apprehensively.

Kitty broke into a sob, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Danny shook his head in disbelief as he his heart pounding in his ears. His body was trembling as it seemed like his world was falling apart in a matter of seconds, and he didn't know how much more he could take.

All of a sudden, Jean walked into the room. Kitty and Danny stood up and approached her eagerly.

"How is she?" Danny asked.

Jean answered, "She's stable. The chemical wasn't lethal and soon it will be out of her system, and she'll awaken. You can go in and see her."

Danny hurried into the room, where they had Kat hooked up to oxygen and laying in a hospital bed.

Kitty stayed back in the waiting room, beside Jean.

"What's wrong, Kitty? Your daughter will be okay," Jean said concernedly.

Kitty wiped her face on her shirt sleeve, "I told him that I'm his mother."

Jean's eyes widened as she was speechless.

* * *

Scott walked into the parlor, stealing the attention of everyone.

He formally introduced himself and his team to the young mutants and explained to each of them that they were safe at the Xavier Institute.

Once he was finished, Jean rushed into the room and pulled him to the side.

She spoke quietly to him, "Kitty told him..." she said.

Scott nodded as he took in the information. He had expected that she would from their prior conversation in the hallway. He said, "We have to tell them all. They've been exposed, Jean."

Jean nodded, and they rejoined the group.

Scott took a deep breath and once again faced the young mutants. He looked solely at Rachel and Jake.

Scott said, "We know that each of you are foster children; that you don't know your real parents."

Rachel gasped, a smile growing on her face, "I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!" she exclaimed, "You're gonna use Cerebro to help us find our real parents!" she uttered with joy.

Jean sighed, "Not exactly.."

Rachel's smile fell.

Adam chimed in, "Wait- how did you know that we're all foster kids?"

Kurt answered, "Because ve are your parents."

Each of them was stunned with confusion and speechless. Once the initial shock wore off, the youths met with their parents.

Kurt and Amanda approached their children, Talia and Adam. Talia's eyes once again locked onto Kurt's the same way they had at the abandoned mill.

Adam stood frozen, his mouth slightly ajar as he looked back and forth at his parents.

Amanda spoke up, "Hi..." She reached her hand toward Adam's arm, but he pulled his arm away from her hand. It wasn't that he didn't believe them because he did. He had no doubt that the people standing in front of him were their birth parents. Besides the fact that he had an obvious resemblance to Kurt, he knew they were his parents because he remembered them.

 ***Flashback***

It was fifteen years ago, Adam was two years old. He was extremely bright for a two-year-old. He could speak very clearly and excel at subjects like mathematics and Language studies far beyond others his own age. He was also very attentive to everything going on around him.

One day, Adam had noticed that his parents were acting differently. They seemed so gloomy and aloof. When he walked into his bedroom, he saw his mother packing all of his clothes in a bag.

He asked, "Mommy, what are you doing?"

Amanda turned around, startled. She hadn't noticed him enter the room, "Sweetie, you scared me.." she said with a forced smile as she continued packing the clothes.

"Mommy, what are you doing with my clothes?" he asked.

Amanda stopped. She turned to him and got down on her knees so that their faces were inches apart, "Honey, you and your sister are going to stay with a really nice lady named Marina Santos for a while."

Adam looked confused, "I don't wanna leave you and daddy," he pouted.

Amanda wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into an embrace. When she pulled away she looked into his dark brown eyes, "Everything is gonna be alright. I promise."

Later that evening, when the sun was setting, Amanda led Adam outside toward a jet black car. His father was standing beside the car, speaking to a lady that Adam would come to know as his foster mother, Marina Santos.

Kurt strapped Adam into his car seat beside Talia, then placed a kiss on both of their foreheads.

Adam began to cry, "I don't want to go. Please don't make me go!"

Amanda grasped his little blue hand as tears spilled out of her eyes, "I love you, Adam," she said.

With that, they shut the door and the black car drove away from the Institute as Adam cried, begging to go back to his parents.

Adam and Talia were taken to Marina's home in Tampa, Florida. She owned a modest two-story house by the beach. Days went by as Adam would wait by the door, waiting for his parents to come back and reclaim him. Months went by. Years went by.

 ***End of flashback***

"Let us explain-" Kurt said.

The reunion was interrupted by the news broadcast. The headline read, "Breaking News: Mutants Among Us."

A female reporter appeared on the screen saying, "Hello, Bayville I'm Christina Lang, and It's been recently discovered that two Tampa, Florida teens named Adam and Talia Santos have been exposed as undercover mutants."

Adam and Talia turned to each other, exchanging a look of fright.

Pictures of the siblings in their image inducer forms appeared on the screen. Adam's picture was him in his varsity soccer uniform, holding his soccer ball, and Talia's picture was a selfie from her Instagram.

"These high school students- as well as many others- have been lying to the world about who they truly are," the news lady continued.

All of a sudden, pictures of Adam and Talia in their true forms appeared on the television screen, replacing their previous pictures. "The siblings' real names are Adam and Talia Wagner, children of one of the infamous X-Men, the Nightcrawler from Bayville, New York."

The reporter continued, "And in Denver, Colorado..." she continued until she had exposed each of the young mutants' secrets on live television.

Adam shook his head in disbelief. It was over. Their secrets were out there for the world to know. They were no longer mutants in hiding.

 **A/N: Well, that's all for this chapter. I hope all those who read it enjoyed it, and I hope that you'll leave a comment and vote. Seriously, don't be afraid to leave a comment even if it's about something you don't like. I love constructive criticism. Anyway, thanks for reading.**


	6. Chapter 5: Acceptance

_Dear Diary,_

 _It's me again. I know it's been a while since I last wrote an entry, and so much has changed in my life. For one, Jake and I are no longer foster kids. It turns out that our birth parents are Scott and Jean Summers, members of the X-Men. It's insane! I would never have thought that my parents were X-Men, but it's also kind of cool. Now that we've been exposed as mutants, we have to stay here at the Xavier Institute with our parents, which is great because we get to know our parents, and Jean can teach me how to control my powers. I like Scott and Jean. Jean is really nice, smart, and beautiful! Scott is nice too, but kind of stiff._

 _Anyway, I'm so glad that Kat woke up. She recovered really quickly, and now she's awake. I know Danny and Kitty are happy. Over the past day, we've been at the Institute, we've started to get to know each other. We've also been assigned rooms to stay in. I share a room with Renea, Jake has his own room, Adam has his own room, Talia shares a room with Kat, and Tonya has her own room as well. Speaking of Tonya, I feel so bad for her. Her parents aren't here, but at least she has her aunt Ororo. She seems to be doing alright, but she doesn't really speak to anyone except her aunt and brother._

 _Soon our foster parents will be coming by the Institute to say goodbye to us. I kind of tear up just thinking of never seeing Lucy again. She was a mother to Jake and me our whole lives. She never made us feel like foster kids. We were her kids... but now we're not. It's a difficult change, but I'm glad we have Scott and Jean to help us through it._

Jean walked into the parlor and said, "Lucy's here."

Rachel was sitting beside Jake on the couch. She put down her journal and plopped her pen down beside it. They got up and followed Jean to the foyer.

Once they passed the threshold, leading into the brightly lit foyer, they saw Lucy. The moment her eyes fell upon the twins, a forced smile spread across her face. Through the entire ride to Bayville, she promised herself that she wouldn't cry, that she would be strong for the twins, but now, that seemed impossible as her tears spilled onto her cheeks.

Without hesitating, Jake and Rachel ran into her arms, receiving a warm embrace. They stayed like this for a couple minutes, not wanting to let go. Lucy's smell reminded Rachel of her home back in Denver.

When they finally did pull out of the embrace, Lucy said, "I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry. I should have been there. This wouldn't have happened if I had just been there for you."

Rachel cried, "It's not your fault, Lucy. You raised us. You're an amazing mother."

"I'm going to miss you two...so much," Lucy said, her blue eyes glassy with tears.

"We'll call you every day..." Jake said before his voice went shaky. He fought to hold in unmanly sobs as his eyes poured over with tears.

Lucy placed her hand under his chin, "Hey... I love you both so much, and I know that this is what's best for you."

Jake put on a weak smile, "I-I'm gonna miss you..."

"I'm gonna miss you too," Lucy said before she embraced them both one last time.

* * *

A jet black Tesla vehicle pulled up to the Xavier Institute. Once its loud motor turned off, Agent Marina Santos came running out of the driver's seat, toward Talia and Adam.

"I love you both so much, and I'm sorry things have to be this way," she uttered as she held them both in a tight embrace.

When she pulled away, she noticed the collection of tears streaming down Talia's face. She tenderly stroked her hair behind her ear, saying, "Mija, don't cry. You can always call me. I won't be out of your lives forever."

Talia cried, "But things are different now... "

Marina held her, "Things are different, but that doesn't have to be bad. Now you're surrounded by people that accept you for who you truly are, and you can get to know your real parents-"

Adam interjected, "-you will always be our real mother."

Marina looked up at him. In her eyes was an expression of sadness, mingled with just the amount of strength she needed not to break down in front of them.

She said to Adam, "Take care of your sister."

"I always will," he promised.

Amanda watched the exchange from the window. She was sitting in the kitchen with a mug of freshly brewed coffee in her hand. Kurt was in the kitchen as well, pouring himself a mug of the warm caffeinated beverage.

"Did you see the vay he looked at me ven ve told them?" Kurt recalled with exasperation as he took a seat beside his wife.

She turned to him, "Yeah, because he looked at me the same way."

Amanda thought for a moment as she sipped her coffee, then said, "Do you think...maybe he remembers when we gave them away?"

Kurt shook his head, "No...he vas only two. He can't remember that far back...can he?"

Amanda shrugged, "He was very intelligent for a two-year-old, and children often remember traumatizing events.."

Their conversation was cut short by the sound of the door shutting. Adam and Talia had just returned inside as Marina drove off in her jet black Tesla.

Without stopping, Adam headed straight to his room.

Kurt stood up, placing his mug on the coffee table, "Talia- vait...ve have something for you."

Talia watched carefully as he pulled two black watches from his pocket, but they ordinary watches. They were image inducers, which both Talia and her brother were familiar with. Ever since she could remember Talia wore an image inducer so she could interact with society. When they were captured by the AML, their image inducers were taken and destroyed.

Kurt handed them both to her, "Make sure to give one of them to your brother."

"Thank you," she said before she walked out of the room.

* * *

A navy blue duffle bag lay on Adam's bed as he quickly packed it with his clothes and other items. He tore through his dresser and took the necessities from his bedside table because he didn't plan on staying.

As he packed these things away, he heard a knock on his door. He paused in his efforts reluctantly, half-expecting it to be one of his parents, the likes of which he didn't want to see. To his surprise, it was neither of them. Instead, Talia stood in front of the door.

She looked different though. Her blue skin was replaced by a warm olive-toned complexion, and her eyes were dark brown instead of bright yellow. Also, her pointed ears more resembled those of a human. She was wearing an image inducer.

Adam asked, "Where'd you get that?"

Talia smirked, "Our parents."

A sour expression came over her brother's face at the mention of their parents.

Talia held out her hand to him. In her hand was the second image inducer, "Here. They wanted you to have one too, but you rushed up to your room so fast that they didn't get a chance to give it to you themselves."

Adam wasted no time and strapped it to his wrist. He pressed the large button in the center of the watch, activating the holographic disguise. Similar to his sister, his physical form began to resemble that of a human.

Talia pushed past him into his room and saw the mess. The items not yet tucked into the duffle bag were scattered across his bed.

She noticed the duffle bag and asked, "Why are you packing your things?"

Adam turned away from her and picked something up to place in his duffle bag, "I'm not staying here."

Her eyes widened, "What do you mean?"

* * *

Meanwhile, Amanda was headed to Adam's bedroom. She wanted to talk to him. As she approached the door, she overheard him and Talia arguing.

* * *

Adam turned to Talia, "This isn't my home," he stated, "This isn't my life. My life is back in Florida."

"We're exposed. The only place that's safe for us is here! Face it, this is our life now," she insisted.

"I was Adam Santos the High School soccer star, and now I'm Adam Wagner the freak."

Talia sighed, "Adam, this is hard for all of us. Running isn't gonna make anything better."

Adam turned away from her and finished packing.

Talia narrowed her eyes, her nose scrunching in frustration, "If you leave, you're no better than our parents."

Once he had everything packed away in his duffle bag, he pulled the strap of his shoulder, and turned to his sister, "I'm sorry, Talia."

He walked out, leaving her in the room alone.

Amanda, having overheard everything, followed Adam as he walked briskly down the stairs, toward the foyer.

She called after him, "Wait! Let's talk, sweetie."

Adam continued walking, quickening his pace, "I don't have anything to say to you."

She rushed in front of him, causing him to stop in his tracks, "You can't leave. It's not safe."

Adam was taller than her by a couple inches so that he looked down at her with his eyes narrowed in indignation. He replied, "I can take care of myself."

In an instant, he was gone, his form replaced by a puff of brimstone.

* * *

Amanda and Kurt stood beside Jean as she used Cerebro to locate Adam.

Amanda fiddled nervously with the charm on her necklace as her mind raced. She thought, 'he teleported, so he couldn't have gone far. We'll find him before anything happens.'

Jean kept searching until an image of his location crossed her mind. She typed the coordinates into the computer, and a live map of Bayville from a satellite appeared on the computer screen. The map zoomed in on an abandoned bomb shelter in the provincial part of the town.

"Vat could he be doing there?" Kurt asked as he studied the map.

Just after he asked, the map disappeared from the screen and was replaced by the image of a man with a plastic zombie mask on his face.

The masked man spoke in a deep disguised voice, "Hello X-Men. If you're looking for a mutant by the name of Adam Wagner, I know exactly where he is."

The masked man turned the camera so that they got a glimpse of Adam bound to a chair with thick rope and a piece of gray duck tape covering his mouth.

"If you want to see him alive again, I suggest you get here soon because this place is gonna blow to bits in 20 minutes-"

The masked man disappeared from the screen.

Amanda and Kurt wasted no time and suited up. They took the smaller X-Jet, known as the X-Velocity, to get to the abandoned bomb shelter.

As soon as they reached the desired location, they found the vault-like door of the abandoned bomb shelter was left wide open. Without hesitating, the hurried inside, and just as they passed the threshold, a beeping noise sounded through-out the underground bunker, then the door slammed shut behind them.

In the center of the small cube-shaped room, Adam sat tied to the chair. His words were muffled by the duck tape on his mouth.

Kurt pulled the tape from his mouth, "Are you okay?" he asked.

As they worked at removing the rope restraints from his wrists and ankles Adam explained, "It was a trap for you. This place is lined with some sort of metal that offsets mutant abilities."

Kurt turned his head and saw the bomb timer. By now, it was down to 12 minutes and 45 seconds and steadily ticking down by the second.

He returned his gaze to his son, "Everything is going to be okay," he insisted.

When they finally managed to break Adam free of the ropes, Adam and his parents began searching the bunker for a way out. The room was so small that it took them no time to realize that they were trapped with no way out.

Adam ran his hand through his short jet black hair in frustration as he said, "You shouldn't have come after me. Now we're all trapped."

"Ve veren't just gonna let you leave," Kurt stated.

Adam huffed in indignation, "You had no problem doing that 15 years ago."

"Adam, we love you. We did what we did because we love you," Amanda urged.

Adam turned away from them, "No..you gave me and my sister away. I waited for you to come back for us. Every day I thought 'mommy and daddy are gonna come to get us', and every day I was disappointed. I got tired of waiting for you. I built my life without you, and I was doing just fine; now you think you can just come back and disrupt my life. No- as far as I'm concerned, you don't love me, and you're not my parents," he said as tears ran down his face.

"That's not true," Amanda countered, "It tore my heart out to give you and your sister away. Just the thought of you growing up without me sent me to tears everytime I thought about you. We did what we did because we thought it was necessary to protect you, and I'm sorry," she placed her hand on his cheek, using her thumb to wipe his tears away, "I'm so so sorry."

Kurt sighed, "I know this is a difficult transition for you, but if you allow us, ve can get through this together."

 **XAVIER INSTITUTE:**

Talia paced back and forth in the parlor, too nervous to sit on the couch an relax. Ever since she found out what was going on, she couldn't calm her nerves until she knew her family was safe.

She halted her pacing when she heard Rogue and Jean join her in the room.

"What's going on?" Talia inquired.

Rogue placed her hands on Talia's shoulders, "relax, Suga'. We sent Ororo and Kitty to go after them."

* * *

Storm and Kitty reached the bunker. Kitty tried to phase through the closed door, but she found that she couldn't. Something was prohibiting her from phasing through the solid door.

"It's not working," Kitty utter.

* * *

Meanwhile, inside the bunker, the bomb timer was down to 9 minutes and 31 seconds.

Adam turned to his parents with desperation, "How are we gonna get out of here?"

Amanda held her hand out toward the door while repeating the spell, " _Pessulum."_

Each time she uttered the spell, a red mystical bolt of force emanated from her hand, hitting the bunker door. The repeated bolts dissipated as soon as they touch the surface of the metal door, doing absolutely no damage.

Kurt placed his hand on hers, "It isn't vorking. Ve need to try something else."

Kurt glanced at the timer which now read 1 minute and 30 seconds. He thought for a moment in the silence of the bunker, then an idea crossed his mind. It was an idea so ridiculous- so absurd- that it just might work.

He turned to his wife and son and suggested, "Let's each of us use our powers at the exact same time. Maybe ve can override vhatever is blocking our powers."

Amanda and Adam glanced at each other, then agreed.

Amanda, Kurt, and Adam locked arms. One the count of three, both Adam and Kurt teleported and Amanda summoned a large amount of sorcery power from within herself. A flash of red energy emanated from the trio as the timer went down to 2 seconds. Just before the timer dropped to 1 second, they disappeared in a puff of brimstone.

The bomb detonated, and the shelter exploded in a large firey eruption, blasting Kitty and Storm backward into the rubble. After a moment, Storm struggled to her feet, then helped Kitty up. Kitty coughed from inhaling the smoke and ash in the air.

They searched the bunker and found nothing.

"Do you think they escaped?" Kitty asked hopefully.

Storm looked at her with a grim expression on her face.

 **XAVIER INSTITUTE:**

Talia sat nervously on the couch beside her Aunt Rogue. Her whole body was shaking from the anxiety coursing through her.

Her eyes lit up when she saw Kitty and Storm walk into the parlor, but her heart immediately sank when she didn't see her mother, father, or brother enter with them.

Talia stood up from where she sat and asked, "Did you find them?"

Kitty placed her hands on Talia's shoulders. Her bright blue eyes were somber in expression and her thin pink lips forming a frown as she said, "The bunker exploded before we could get them out."

Talia's breath left her body. She shook her head in disbelief as she crumpled in Kitty's arms, uncontrollable sobs leaving her body.

Kitty held the girl tightly in her arms, tenderly stroking her hair in an effort to soothe her.

The sound of more footsteps entering the room caused Talia to look up, and to her surprise, she saw her brother, and parents standing there, completely unscathed.

Her eyes widened in disbelief as she pulled away from Kitty. She wasn't sure if it were real. Maybe her mind was just playing tricks on her. Maybe they were really dead.

All of her doubts were thrown to the wind when she heard her brother say, "Talia."

She ran into their arms. Kurt, Amanda, Talia, and Adam embraced one another for a long while, savoring the moment of sheer comfort.

 **ANCHORAGE, ALASKA:**

Dr. Walton stood in a dark lab, mixing chemicals from different vials in a large beaker. One of the vials he grabbed was full of the blue liquid labeled Hydromassian. He poured the contents of the bottle into the beaker, causing a bubbling chemical reaction. The concoction began to glow a bright blue color as he stirred it with a steel stirring tool.

Once it was stirred through, he pulled out a syringe and took some of the glowing blue liquid into it.

The doctor approached a metal instrument table, on which was strapped an adult mutant. The mutant struggled against the restraints, crying out for mercy as the mad doctor pushed the glowing liquid into his veins.

Dr. Walton watched carefully as the mutant's struggling quickly subside in a matter of seconds. He lay still as the glowing liquid rapidly spread through his veins, causing his blood vessels to glow through his skin. The mutant's eyes took on the color of a bright neon blue as his vitals dropped dramatically low, and his heart finally stopped beating.

Dr. Walton smiled insanely.

"I did it!" he declared, "It took me three decades, but I finally did it!" he cried out in maniacal joy.


	7. Chapter 6: Training

**XAVIER INSTITUTE:**

A long metal laser came out of the wall, aimed at Rachel. Nonetheless, she was ready for it. She tucked her body and rolled herself out of the way, dodging the green beam. Then, turning to the laser, she aimed her fist at it. A golden-orange blast shot from her fist, destroying it.

As she stood to catch her breath, dozens of broken lasers lined the walls of the Danger Room, some of them still steaming from the fire of her previous blasts.

Jean and Scott watched her train from the control room. It was her first private training session. They had originally started her on a low level of difficulty, but once they saw the strength of her abilities, they raised the difficulty level.

Scott was awestruck, "She's...amazing," he said.

Jean smiled, "I know right! And she's only just started..with years of training she could control and master the maximum of her Phoenix abilities!"

Jean spoke over the speakers, "That was great, sweetheart!"

Rachel looked up at the control room and waved, a smile on her face.

* * *

Talia walked closely behind her mother as Amanda led her down multiple corridors of the Institute.

"Where exactly are you taking me?" Talia asked curiously.

Amanda turned to her and smiled, "It's a surprise."

They continued in silence until they reached a particular door in one of the hallways that Talia had never been in before. As They stood by the door, Talia felt a strange feeling, one that she had never felt before. It was as if power was emitting itself from whatever was in that room.

Amanda faced the door and held her hands out in front of her. She recited a short spell in a language Talia couldn't understand, then the door opened slowly.

Amanda turned to her, "Go ahead."

Talia walked in slowly. As she looked around, her eyes wide in astonishment, her lips slightly parted in awe, she studied everything around her. The walls of the large room were lined with tall bookshelves, filled with hundreds- no thousands- of books. The room was littered with dozens of unlit candles, and in the center of the room was a table made of dark wood. On the table was a thick leather-bound spellbook.

Talia turned to Amanda, "what is all of this?"

Amanda answered, "This was my personal magic room, but now it's our personal magic room."

Talia uttered, "You mean..all this is mine too?"

"Yes. You're a sorceress like me, so it's time we begin your training," Amanda answered.

Talia's lips formed an excited smile as she traipsed around the room, becoming familiar with everything on every shelf. She hadn't noticed before, but some shelves held mysterious things like strange vials and cloudy jars. She was half- expecting to find a black cauldron and a witches broom. As she went along, trailing her hand across a shelf of books, she suddenly felt it again. The same power she had felt just outside the door, but thing time stronger.

She could feel that energy emulating from behind the bookcase.

Talia asked, "What's behind this bookcase?"

Amanda looked at her, the smile on her face changing into a solemn frown, "Behind that case are.. some things that involve very serious... dark magic."

Talia looked curious.

Amanda sat down and explained, "Behind that bookcase, I have a safe hidden in the wall. It's protected by a spell that I cast so that it can't be accessed."

"What's in the safe?"

Amanda sighed, "Magic is very serious, Talia. There are all different types of magic. The type of magic I sealed away in that safe is dark magic, a magic that can bring about the downfall of an entire dimension, killing millions. In that safe is the Spell Book of Magik- with a k, and with it is the Soulsword."

"Soulsword?" Talia asked.

"It's impervious to magic. The person who wields it is practically invincible," Amanda explained.

Talia asked, "If they're so bad, then why do you keep them?"

Amanda answered, "because, in the wrong hands those magical items can be extremely dangerous."

Amanda grabbed a small and thin leather-bound book to her daughter, "Here. This is yours. It's full of beginner spells that I want you to practice. Just remember that magic requires both energy and focus. The more powerful the spell, the more energy required. One way to sustain yourself while doing a big spell is by channeling the elements of nature, so the first spell you're gonna learn is a fire spell."

Talia gasped, "Fire...what about water? Water isn't as flammable..." she said worriedly.

Amanda responded, "Fire has the most energy to channel."

Talia looked down at the book in her hands, "I-I've never done magic before."

Amanda placed her hand under her chin, "Relax, sweety, you'll do fine."

Talia sighed, turning to the marked page in her spellbook, she recited the fire spell silently to herself.

"Now, focus on this candle, and recite the spell," Amanda said, pointing to the unlit, half-melted white candle in the center of the table.

Talia took a deep breath and stared at the candle as she uttered, " _ignis accendia_."

Nothing happened.

Talia sighed.

"It's okay sweety, just try again."

Talia took another deep breath and relaxed her shoulders. She focused the wick of the candle and recited, _"ignis accendia."_

This time, she waited a moment, and still, nothing happened.

"Are you focusing?" Amanda asked.

"I'm trying," Talia replied, her eyes glued on that stubborn candle.

Amanda sighed heavily, "It's okay. You're just starting. Don't beat yourself up about it. We can take a break-"

"-No. I wanna try one more time."

Talia glanced over the spell one more time. On the brown toned paper, the spell was written in a dark ink. This time she tried something different. As she stared at the wick of the candle, she tried to image it lit. She imagined a small burning fire consuming the wick of the candle as she chanted with more enthusiasm, _"Ignis accendia!"_

The moment the words left her lips, a small orange flame appeared at the end of the withered wick.

Talia's concentrative frown transformed into a relieved smile.

* * *

Adam and Kurt had just gotten finish training. It was a warm afternoon, and they had just returned from an intensive combat session outside. Adam breathed heavily as just beneath his uniform his body was coated in a layer of sweat.

"So, are we done for the day?" Adam asked as he wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand.

Kurt smirked, "Not exactly. We still have to practice teleportation."

Adam scoffed confidently, "Easy. Is that really necessary to practice-"

"-Just teleport us to the garage," Kurt said.

Adam raised an eyebrow as he took his father's three-fingered hand, "Why the garage?"

"You'll see," Kurt said, his smirk widening.

Adam did as he was told. He pictured the spacious garage in his mind, then with a _bamf!_ he and his father were gone in a puff of brimstone.

They reappeared in the garage. The garage was a spacious unit, connected to the mansion. It was full of vehicles which included countless cars, the X-Van, and even a few motorcycles.

Adam stared at his father questioningly.

Kurt asked with a happy smirk, "Look around...you might find something familiar..."

Adam's eyes scanned the room until his eyes fell upon a familiar gray Honda Accord. It was his car. Back in California, Marina Santos helped him buy his first car when he finally got his driver's license. He ran to his car like a happy little kid would run to Santa Clause at the mall.

"This is my car!" he said in ecstatic shock.

Kurt smiled, "Marina sent it this morning. I vanted to surprise you."

Nothing could wipe the smile from Adam's face as he trailed his fingers along the car's exterior, "I missed you so much, Gloria!" he said.

"Gloria? You named your car Gloria?" Kurt asked, cracking into a laugh mid-way through his question.

"Of course. She's definitely a Gloria, I mean look at her! She's beautiful! Silver chrome exterior and tan leather interior," he gushed.

Kurt smiled, happy that his son was happy.

* * *

"-I never use my powers," Johnny stated.

His mother, Danielle sat beside him in the control room.

She asked in astonishment, "So, you know how to control your abilities?"

Johnny nodded, "Yes."

Danielle was impressed. She hadn't learned how to fully control her abilities until she was in her mid-twenties.

She clasped her hands together, "Alright, we'll start with combat training."

* * *

It was late that night. The moon hung over the city of Bayville in its crescent-like appearance as stars sparkled around it, illuminating the pitch-black sky. The Xavier Institute was still as most were asleep from their busy day full of training. As Rachel lay awake in bed, she thought of how happy she was with her powers. It was so easy to master the Phoenix power, and it felt so invigorating to use. She thought of fighting crime someday like her parents and using her powers against criminals and evil mutants. The thought made her smile to herself.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of sniveling. She sat up in her bed and saw Renea curled up under her blankets.

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked her.

"No-" she answered as a broken sob left her lips.

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked concernedly.

Renea sat up in her bed. Rachel got a look at her face. Her eyes were puffy and her face seemed to be red from crying. Her mouth in a depressed frown.

Renea said, "Since we got exposed I've been getting such mean and nasty messages from the people who used to be my friends back in Florida."

Rachel said, "I know what you're going through. I'm going through the same thing. People are just so ignorant."

Renea looked down at the floor, "That's just the beginning of it. My-my boyfriend, Tony, broke up with me. He said he could never be with a lying mutant... he said such bad things... I thought he would understand..." Renea sobbed.

Rachel got up from her bed and sat beside Renea. She put an arm around her, in an attempt to comfort her.

"I really thought he was the one," Renea cried.

Rachel said, "I know. You don't deserve that, Renea. You deserve so much better. You're nice and beautiful. He has no right to say those things to you."

Renea sighed, "Is this what the rest of our lives are gonna be like. The world hating us for things we can't control. I never asked to be a mutant. I never asked to be the child of an X-Man."


	8. Chapter 7: Home Alone

**A/N: I'm back again with another chapter! I've been working hard on this for a while. It took me longer because school just started, and I'm already swamped with school work... THE STRUGGLE! Anyway, I hope you enjoy and feel free to leave a review!**

 **XAVIER INSTITUTE:**

Talia and Kat were walking side by side down the stairs, headed toward the kitchen for breakfast. The commotion from the kitchen was already bouncing off the walls from the multitude of people already congregated there.

"Ughhh..this place is overcrowded," Kat groaned.

Talia agreed, "I know right... I wish we could leave the mansion for just five minutes just to breathe. It feels like we're constantly on lockdown."

When they entered the kitchen, they had to fight their way through the multitudes to get to the cereal. The noise level was immense, with everyone talking over each other simply to hold a conversation.

Kat and Talia found a comfortable place to stand against the counter, near Danny.

"So, how'd you sleep last night, brother?" Kat asked her fraternal twin. In some aspects they did favor each other, having the same fair complexion and dark brown hair. Otherwise, they looked completely different.

"Fine... Except that guy kept me up half the night strumming his guitar," Danny remarked, motioning his thumb toward his roommate, Johnny, who stood quietly on the other side of the room, oblivious to the conversation.

"He plays guitar?" Talia asked curiously.

"Yeah," Danny answered disinterestedly.

"Is he any good?" Kat inquired.

"I dunno' I was covering my ears with my pillow the whole time. So, you're interested in music?" Danny asked Talia.

Talia looked down at her bowl of Lucky Charms, "Something like that. I did theater back at my old school, and sometimes we did musicals. I was always interested in singing... but then I realized I'm not any good," she said with a forced laugh.

Danny smirked, "Well, musicals are overrated."

"Can I get everyone's attention?" Scott asked. The excitement in the kitchen dwindled down to silence.

Scott cleared his throat before he announced, "The other X-Men and I are leaving for an important mission. Since Hank and Ororo are away, we trust you all to stay here at the Institute. The Institute will be on high security, and no one is permitted to leave the premises while we're away."

"How long will you be gone?" Rachel asked.

Jean answered, "We shouldn't be gone longer than a couple days."

* * *

The hangar was buzzing with activity as the X-Men were loading the X-Jet, preparing for their mission. Scott and Jean stood just outside of the jet when Rachel approached them.

Rachel sighed, "Do you really have to go?"

Jean answered, "Yeah. Sweetheart I'm afraid we do."

They held her in a tight embrace.

"I'm gonna miss you," she said.

Scott looked her in her eyes and said, "We're trusting you to keep the others in line while we're away."

Rachel smirked, "And by 'others' you mean Jake. Right?"

Scott replied, "Especially Jake."

The ends of her mouth turned upwards in a smile, "Well then, I will try my best," she said.

Rachel gave her parents one last hug before they boarded the X-Jet. She stood, watching solemnly as the jet took off, the hangar doors closing behind it.

 **DUDINCE, SLOVAKIA:**

The loud engine of the X-Jet cried as they touched down in the mountains of Southern Dudince.

Leaning against a tall uneven wall made of solid rock was none other than Logan A.K.A Wolverine. Logan stood, shoulders relaxed, in his black uniform, looking like he had never aged a day since he left the team. Colossus stood tall beside him. The large man made of metal making Logan look even smaller by comparison.

The X-Men greeted the pair.

"What's going on?" Rogue asked.

Logan explained, "Magneto gathered a new group of mutants and they're tryin' to hunt down Dr. Walton for a mutant killing serum."

"Hydromassian?" Kitty asked, her eyes large with fear as she remembered how just days ago that chemical nearly killed her daughter.

"Yes," Colossus said.

"But Hydromassian isn't lethal. One of our mutants was injected with the serum and it temporarily stripped the oxygen from her cells," Jean said.

Logan insisted, "Well it's deadly now. We found the body of a mutant abandoned in a lab. After running a few tests, we found that stuff laced through his veins. It seemed to have killed him instantly."

"Why does Magneto want the Hydromassian?" Rogue inquired.

Colossus answered, "He plans to test the serum on mutants until he creates an anecdote."

 **XAVIER INSTITUTE:**

"This sucks! We can't leave this boring mansion, and there's nothing to do!" Jake whined as he lay on his back, throwing his basketball up in the air, catching it, then repeating the process mechanically.

All nine of the young mutants sat in the parlor, bored out of their minds.

"You're right. When I lived back in California, I never spent a Friday night bored at home," Renea reminisced.

Jake suddenly sat up on the couch, a mischievous look replacing his expression of boredom, "Hey guys, this is the first time we've been left at the Institute without adults... what if we throw a party?"

Danny raised an eyebrow, "But everyone hates us."

"It could just be the nine of us. We could find some alcohol, turn on some loud music, and get Lit!" Jake remarked.

Getting up, Jake walked to the kitchen in search of the hidden alcoholic beverages, "I know they keep the booze somewhere." He said.

While he roamed through drawers and cabinets, Rachel insisted, "I don't think this is a good idea, Jake. They told us to be on our best behavior, and getting wasted isn't gonna show them that we can be trusted to be unsupervised."

Jake continued looking, his back to her, "Oh come on, Rachel! We may never get to be left alone again. It would be a crime to pass up this opportunity. Stop being a buzzkill and- oooo I found the jackpot!"

He opened a cabinet full of all different types of alcoholic beverages. Bottles of wine, liquor, whiskey, and bourbon filled the shelves. He pulled a bottle of Jack Daniels whiskey from the shelf and turned to Rachel, with a mischievous look on his face, he said, "Bottoms up."

 **DUDINCE, SLOVAKIA:**

Dr. Walton treaded hastily down the street of a small village in Dudince. Every building he passed was made of stone bricks which were coated in green moss and vines from the many years of neglect. The village was mostly vacant, which made it the perfect place to hide.

He heard a sudden whirl of wind behind him. He quickly stopped in his tracks and turned around to see nothing behind him. He scratched the hairless part of his head. _It must have just been the wind_ , he reasoned.

When he turned to keep going, his eyes met a tall muscular mutant in a tight teal suit. The mutant stood with his arms crossed, staring down at the short doctor with an arrogant smirk on his face.

"Quicksilver," The doctor muttered breathlessly as he backed away slowly.

Quicksilver's smile widened, "So, you've heard of me?"

Then, a pair of female mutants emerged from behind a building.

One had shoulder length black hair with a red ombre at the bottom. Her scarlet red long-tailed jacket trailed behind her as she waved her hands in the air, blue hex magic emanating from them. She was the Scarlet Witch.

The other wore an all-white outfit and sported platinum blonde hair which complemented her icy blue eyes. She was known as Emma Frost, one of the most powerful telepaths of all time.

Lastly, Magneto ascended from the sky, to stand just in front of the petrified doctor.

"You have something I want," Magneto spoke in his grave voice.

Walton backed away nervously as he uttered, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Magneto waved his outstretched hand and a piece of scrap metal flew toward Doctor Walton and pinned him to a stone wall.

Magneto spoke, "Where is the Hydromassian?"

Walton whimpered, "It's in my bag!"

The doctor had a brown leather bag strapped across his shoulder. Quicksilver snatched the bag, quickly searching through the contents until he pulled out a palm-sized bottle of the blue serum.

He handed the bottle to Magneto, who studied it closely.

"Thank you for your assistance, Doctor," Magneto said before he and his team left Dr. Walton pinned to the wall.

 **XAVIER INSTITUTE:**

"Turn up the music!" Renea exclaimed as she held an empty red cup in her hand, drained of vodka. It was her second cup, and already the alcohol was starting to hit her as she began dancing around the room to Chung Li by Nicki Minaj.

The only person who might have been drinking at a faster rate than her was Jake, and he was no better at hiding his drunkenness.

Nonetheless, everyone joined in on the carefree partying, dancing to the music blasting from the speakers and enjoying the alcoholic refreshments.

Everyone... except Rachel. She sat outside on a bench by the pool, the cool summer breeze blowing her shoulder-length red hair back. The sun was setting as it was seven o'clock in the evening.

She heard footsteps from behind her and turned to see Adam.

"Mind if I sit there?" he asked as he pointed to the seat beside her.

Rachel replied, "Go ahead... so, you couldn't handle the party antics either?"

Adam sighed, "I've experienced my fair share of parties, and this one is pretty lame. Plus, I don't want to deal with my parents' rage when they come home and see the mansion trashed."

Rachel looked down at her lap, "Parties were never my thing. Jake has always been more outgoing while I would rather sit at home with a good book," she explained.

Adam smiled, "That's cool too."

There was a silence for a moment. The only noise was the loud music streaming from inside the mansion

Rachel spoke up, "I wonder what the important mission is about."

Adam replied, "Me too. They probably didn't tell us for a reason."

Rachel suggested, "Do you think it has anything to do with Hydromassian?"

Adam answered, "No- Hydromassian isn't even lethal. But it must be something important if all of them had to go."

The silence returned. The pair stared ahead at the setting sun as the loud wind overpowered the sound of the blaring music.

Rachel inadvertently shivered, her hands embracing her arms as the wind intensified.

"Are you cold?" Adam asked.

Rachel turned to him, a redness spreading across her cheeks as she saw him taking off his jacket.

She uttered, "I'm fine... you don't have to-"

"It's not a problem," he handed her the jacket, and she took it, draping it across her shoulders.

"Thanks," she said shyly.

"It's no problem. I can't have the most powerful member on our team catching a cold. I mean, we would die in Scott's training sessions if it weren't for you," he remarked.

She looked down at her lap again as she gripped the zipper of the jacket, "Thanks."

Rachel suddenly felt this strange feeling all through-out her body, a feeling she had never felt before. As she sat beside him, breathing in his scent from his jacket, she felt her heart beating faster. She could barely speak. It felt as butterflies were in her stomach.

She looked up at his face. His handsome face. Of course, it wasn't his actual face. He was wearing his image inducer, which changed his complexion and ear-shape, but other than that, it was him. His dark brown eyes rendered her speechless as he stared back at her, their faces only centimeters apart.

"Adam! Rachel! Come on! We're about to play spin the bottle!" Jake shouted drunkenly from the door.

Adam turned to Rachel, "this should be fun."

They rejoined the others inside.


	9. Chapter 8: Home Alone pt2

**A/N** **: It took me forever to finish this chapter! Honestly, with school starting, I was super busy with homework and preparing for college that it kind of sucked away my time and inspiration, but I pulled myself together enough to finish this chapter, and I hope you enjoy it!**

 **DUDINCE, SLOVAKIA:**

Dr. Walton remained pinned to the wall by the thick piece of scrap metal as he struggled and strained to be free of its restraint, to no avail. He panicked.

 _I'm going to die here,_ he thought as he panicked, thoughts of people discovering his starved skeleton weeks from now ran through his mind.

Suddenly, in the distance, he saw a group of people approaching. A relieved smile spread across his face as he called out to them, "Help! Help! I'm here!"

As the group approached, the fog that obscured their appearance dissipated so that he could easily make out the crimson red X's on their uniforms. His smile dropped and his heart nearly stopped. For sure, he believed he was going to die. He struggled unsuccessfully against the metal as panic ran through his body, grunts erupting from his lips.

The X-Men gathered around him. He stared nervously at the ground, visually shaking as he croaked, "Please don't kill me! I'll give you what you want, just let me go!"

Scott narrowed his eyes beneath his visor as he inquired, "Where is the Hydromassian?"

The Doctor answered quickly, "Another mutant-by the name of Magneto- took it from me."

Logan growled, "Magneto already has the serum!"

 **XAVIER INSTITUTE:**

Rachel and Adam rejoined the others in the kitchen. Everyone was sitting on the floor in a circle. In the center of the circle lay an empty bottle of wine.

Jake drunkenly explained, "OKay... so, if you spin an' you get someone you don't wanna' kiss, you gotta' take a shot a' vodka." He grabbed a half-empty bottle of vodka from the counter before he sat down, completing the circle.

Everyone agreed to the rules.

"Who's gonna' go first?" Kat asked.

"I'll go," Danny volunteered. He had consumed a good amount of alcohol, though not as much as Jake, it gave him a dash of confidence that he didn't usually have. Danny spun the bottle, his eyes watching the tip of it meticulously as it went around and around, gradually going slower as it neared its target. It may have lasted only 15 seconds, but it felt like 30 minutes until it finally stopped, pointing directly at Talia.

Talia and Danny looked up at each other at the same time.

She subtly nodded before they leaned toward each other, their noses lightly touching before their lips pecked for a quick moment. Everyone watched them, the room was quiet except for the music playing in the background. His pale face flushed red as he slowly pulled away from the softness of her lips, the corners of his mouth turning upwards in a slight smile.

Once their moment had ended, Renea chimed, "My turn!"

She spun the bottle so fast that it whipped around the circle, everyone following it with their eyes as it went, nearly getting dizzy. It slowed down and ultimately stopped, pointing at Tonya.

It was silent for a moment as an awkward energy filled the room.

"It's okay, I'm bi but, if you don't want to-" Tonya stated.

"No- it's okay. It's just a kiss," Renea stated before she leaned forward and lightly pecked Tonya's lips.

Others spun and kissed or took a shot of vodka, and soon it was Talia's turn. She spun the bottle and went through the same agonizing anxiety-inducing process of waiting for it to stop, but when it did, it was pointed at Johnny. His large dark eyes peered into hers, similar to those of an adorable puppy. She and Johnny had never exchanged many words with each other. He usually kept to himself, but she couldn't deny an interest she had in him. She thought he was very handsome with his long black hair and mysterious demeanor.

"Do you wanna kiss me?" she asked.

Johnny blinked twice as he took in the question, a red-ish blush appearing on his face as he uttered, "Yes- I mean sure- I would love to kiss you..."

Talia smiled as she neared him, pressing her lips to his. Their lips embracing for a few moments as Danny watched with a frown on his face. As Talia pulled away, Johnny's eyes seemed inhumanly larger and his lips slightly parted. She giggled at his reaction an irremovable smile on her face.

Danny huffed and placed his hand on the empty wine bottle, "I'll go next!"

"No," Jake said as he pulled the bottle away, "you already went. It's my turn."

Jake flashed a smirk at Renea before he spun the bottle.

 **DUDINCE, SLOVAKIA:**

"How are we going to track Magneto?" Piotr asked.

Amanda turned to him, "I can handle that."

Since Magneto was too strong to be traced telepathically, Amanda had to use her magic to track him. She stood straight, shoulders back, eyes closed, and recited the spell, _"quem quaeris invenias"_ until the location appeared in her mind. As she recited the spell, her hands began to glow a golden hue.

While she worked on finding the location, Scott and Jean stood apart from the group.

"What if Magneto is right?" Scott whispered.

Jean turned to him, a confused expression contorting her features, "What do you mean?"

"I mean, the AML would have used the serum to kill our children if we hadn't shown up. Maybe we should be helping him find an immunity to it..." Scott explained.

Jean sighed, placing her hand on his arm, "Scott, I see where you're coming from, but this isn't right. Magneto plans on using mutants as his guinea pigs to create the anecdote. Plus, knowing Magneto, he won't stop at just making mutants immune."

Scott looked at her, "Alright, but when we get the Hydromassian, we need to figure out a way to create an anecdote or destroy it."

Jean smiled, "I'm way ahead of you."

"Uhhhgggg!" Amanda suddenly began to faint. Kurt grabbed her before she could hit the ground.

"What happened?" Jean asked.

Amanda held her hand to her head as she tried to regain her composure, "...my spell was intercepted."

Suddenly, Scarlet Witch walked out from behind a tree, a wicked smile on her face and her hands glowing red. Quicksilver appeared beside her. Then, Magneto and Emma Frost descended from the sky, side by side.

Magneto spoke, "So, you've been looking for me?"

 **XAVIER INSTITUTE:**

Jake spun next. His thin lips formed into a slanted smirked as he placed his index finger on his temple, subtly using his telekinesis to manipulate the results of his spin.

All evening long he had his eye on Renea. She seemed so attractive when she was buzzed. Her long dark brown hair was messy, which only seemed to emphasize her appeal to him.

He used his powers to make the bottle point at her.

Renea looked up at him, her shocked expression, quickly changing to reflect his sensual smile.

Their lips met in the middle of the circle, and it was as if they didn't want to part. Their kiss only intensified as Renea's hand embraced his cheek. Everyone around them fidgeted and watched uncontrollably, but Jake and Renea were too drunk to mind the audience.

Kat shielded her eyes, "Get a room!"

Renea pulled away from the kiss and whispered in his ear, "Why don't we take this up to your room?"

Jake smirked at her before they stood up and hustled out of the kitchen.

Rachel glanced at the time on her phone then said, "Well, it sure is getting late. Who wants to wrap this up and head to bed?"

Kat responded, "No way. It's only eight thirty."

Rachel countered, "Our parents will be home soon."

Talia responded, "But, didn't they say they would be away for a couple days."

Kat walked over to the radio and turned it up louder, so that the beat of the music shook the floor, "Let's keep partying!"

 **DUDINCE, SLOVAKIA:**

"I didn't come here to fight. I believe that we have the same goal, to secure the future of mutant-kind," Magneto explained, his voice deep and leveled in tone.

Scott shook his head, "No- not like this."

Logan growled, "We ain't lettin' you take the Hydromassian, bub."

Magneto frowned, as he retorted, "We'll see about that," with his outstretched hand toward Logan, he began to bend his adamantium skeleton. Logan howled in pain.

Scott aimed his visor at Magneto, but as he shot his red blast, Scarlet Witch used her hex magic to re-direct the shot toward the sky, initiating the big fight between the two teams.

The two telepaths, Jean and Emma went back and forth in banter as they fought against each other. Emma used her telekinesis to hurdle small and larger boulders as well as other forest debris toward Jean, while Jean used her telekinesis to avoid them.

"You haven't aged a day, Emma," Jean stated.

Emma's neutral pink lips formed into a smirk as she replied, "I wish I could say the same about you."

Slam! Jean was caught off guard by a large boulder, which smashed into her, throwing her against a tree and knocking her out.

Meanwhile, Scott, Logan, Ororo, and Colossus took on Magneto.

Magneto was strong, and with his abilities of metal manipulation, he easily subdued Logan and Colossus, but Scott and Ororo still had a chance against him.

Ororo ascended into the air, wind billowing around her as she send a lightning strike down toward Magneto. However, the metal-bending mutant saw it coming, and he used his powers to hurl Colossus at her. The large metal man knocked her out of the air, against the ground.

Now, it was just Magneto against Scott.

Magneto stated, "It's over. You've lost."

Scott replied, "You're not going anywhere with the Hydromassian." He clicked the button on his visor, preparing to blast him.

"You're arrogant persistence- just like Charles. Look around, Cyclopse," Magneto spoke as he motioned to the battle going on around them. It was apparent that the X-Men were losing. Rogue, Kitty, Kurt, and Amanda, had been overcome by the twins, Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch.

Magneto had a crooked smile on his face as he spoke, "End this now while there aren't significant casualties. I've heard that you have children to go home to-"

"Don't talk about my kids," Scott uttered.

Magneto insisted, "It was all over the news how they were captured by the AML. I want to make a world where mutant children don't have to worry about walking out of their homes and being murdered simply for being who they are," Magneto continued, "Plus, you aren't the only ones with children in Bayville."

Scott hesitated. A mistake he would come to regret as Emma Frost came up behind him and sent a mind-numbing telepathic wave through his brain, rendering him unconscious.

Magneto ordered his team, "Let's go," and they left with the Hydromassian.

 **XAVIER INSTITUTE:**

Renea giggled drunkenly as she and Jake approached a bedroom door at the end of the hallway. She pinned him against the door as they began kissing, their lips furiously and sloppily locking together. When they finally had to pull apart for air, Jake turned the knob and opened the door with one arm while the other remained around her waist.

Renea shut the door behind them.

They maneuvered over to the king-sized bed in the right corner of the room, still embraced. Beside the bed, on the nightstand, was a wedding photo of Scott and Jean. It was obvious that Jake hadn't brought her to his bedroom. He brought her to his parents' bedroom, but neither of them seemed to care as Renea straddled his lap. Her lips began attacking his neck with a mixture of rough and tender kisses while her hands ran through his orange locks.

He held her close to him as they sat on the tan comforter, their lips locking passionately and hungrily. Her fingers trailed through his hair and down his neck as their kisses became more intense.

Jake pulled away just to take off his shirt, then scrambled back onto the bed.

* * *

The X-Jet flew into the hangar. Soon afterward, the X-Men stepped out of the jet. It was apparent from all of their demeanors and expressions that they had lost the fight. Scott hadn't said a word during the whole ride.

* * *

The party had ended with Kat vomiting on the couch and Talia rushing her to the bathroom. Everyone else headed to their bedrooms to try and sleep off their hangovers, leaving Rachel and Adam downstairs to clean up the mess.

"How can seven people make such a mess?" Rachel asked from the kitchen as she went around gathering all of the empty red cups and dropping them in the trash can.

"I don't know, but they're gonna' owe us big-time for this," Adam remarked as he struggled to scrub the vomit stain out of the couch.

All of a sudden, the sounds of doors opening and footsteps could be heard. Rachel slipped into the living room, holding a half-empty bottle of wine in her hand as she and Adam nervously made eye contact.

She quietly mouthed, _Do you think they're home?_

Adam shrugged in response.

Almost as if on cue, the X-Men filed into the living room, each of the parents endowed with looks of shock and confusion as they examined the messy room with empty bottles of alcohol and red cups strewn around all over the place.

Adam and Rachel were frozen.

Though he wore his visor, Scott's exasperation was easily discernable as he looked down at the bottle of wine in Rachel's hand, "What's going on?"

Rachel stuttered, "Uh-uh-uh it's not what it looks like!"

* * *

All of the teens were gathered in the living room with their enraged parents.

Jean rubbed her forehead in frustration as she inquired, "What was going on here while we were away?"

Jake answered, "Bible study..."

Ororo narrowed her eyes.

Rachel sighed, "Look, it's my fault...I couldn't keep everything under control..."

Adam chimed in: "No. If you're gonna blame anyone, blame me."

Jake spoke, "No, stop trying to take the blame for me. It was my fault. I brought out the booze, but we just needed to let loose, OKAY!"

Danny added, "And you're constantly breathing down our necks."

Kat chimed in, "And all we do is training sessions!"

Talia stated, "-and we never get to leave the institute. It's like we're on lockdown!"

Kurt countered, "We're trying to protect you. It's not safe out there."

Kat suddenly heaved into a bucket on her lap and retched up the contents of her stomach. Kitty helped her daughter off of the couch and took her up to her bedroom.

Jean looked at the rest of them, her green eyes narrowed, "You're all grounded."

 **A/N:** **Thanks for reading! I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I feel like I really got to explore the relationships between the characters, and the fight scenes were pretty cool to write too. Anyway, feel free to tell me in the comments which is your favorite ship: Rachel x Adam, Talia x Johnny, Talia x Danny, or Renea x Jake. Any of these ships may or may not be endgame... ; ) Feel free to leave a comment and/ or vote!**


	10. Chapter 9: The First Day of School

**A/N : Thank you for clicking on this chapter, and I hope you enjoy it! I know it has been a while since I last updated, but with the holidays and lately, I have been working on college stuff, so I have been really busy, but I will try to update more frequently. Anyway, please keep reading and enjoy the chapter.**

 _Dear Diary,_

 _I can't believe that we've been at the Xavier Institute for a month. It feels like just yesterday Jake and I were in Colorado, spending our summer vacation as normal teenagers. Now, school is starting up again, and this year, we're going to Bayville High School. Our parents decided to enroll us because they thought it would be a good way to introduce us to society as harmless mutants. Honestly, I'm happy to be getting back out into the world again, but I know that we will be met with difficulty in society because we're different.  
_  
Rachel wrote in her diary as she sat at the breakfast table. It was 6:00 a.m. and she was alone in the kitchen. She had been up since 4:00 a.m. because she was unable to sleep, nervous about their first day of school as exposed mutants.

The sound of someone walking into the kitchen caused her to quickly look up from her journal. Adam had walked in, his true appearance hidden by his image inducer. Usually, his dark hair was meticulously gelled and styled, but that morning, his hair seemed slightly more disheveled, with dark strands of hair framing his face.

"Good morning," he greeted as he poured himself a mug of hot coffee and took a seat at the table across from her.

"Good morning," she replied, followed by a short sigh.

He looked up at her from his coffee, "Nervous?"

She replied, "yeah."

Many of the others soon began pouring in until the kitchen resumed its usual chaotic atmosphere, with Jake and Danny loudly arguing over the last bowl of Captain Crunch.

* * *

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Tonya groggily pressed the snooze button on her alarm clock for the third time, temporarily ending its consistent noise, so she could go back to sleep. Just as she shut her eyes, her bedroom door opened, and in walked her aunt Ororo. Ororo stood with her arms crossed and a frown on her face, while Tonya tried her best to ignore her and get the most out of the next four minutes she had of snooze time.

"Good morning," Ororo said.

Tonya smooshed her face into her pillow and groaned as Ororo opened up her curtains, letting in the bright September sunlight.

"Get up. You're going to be late for school."

Tonya groaned into her pillow, "I'll get ready.."

Ororo shook her head. "Okay, but the next time I see you, you better be dressed for school," she said as she proceeded to walk out of Tonya's bedroom.  
 **  
**

* * *

"I remember high school like it was yesterday," Jean reminisced with Rogue and Kitty as they stood by the counter in the kitchen, drinking coffee.

"I try my best to forget high school," Rogue stated before she took a sip of her black coffee.

Kitty turned to her, "You can't think of one good memory from high school?"

"No," Rogue responded.

"Really encouraging, Aunty Rogue," Talia said sarcastically as she sat at the table beside Kat eating strawberry pop tarts.

"If it makes you feel any better, the library has really good vampire romances," Rogue said.

Just then, Renea entered the kitchen, stealing everyone's attention as she was dressed for school in a baby pink off the shoulder crop top, paired with a distressed denim mini-skirt.

Rogue placed her mug on the counter as she stared at her daughter, "Y-you aint wear'n that to school."

Renea frowned, "Why not?"

Jake said, "I think she looks fine."

Renea and Rogue shot him a glare, then resumed with their conversation.

"This ain't California. You'll catch a cold if you walk outside wear'n that," Rogue insisted.

Renea huffed and rolled her eyes before she walked out of the kitchen and marched back up to her bedroom to change, muttering curses about her mother. Just as Renea walked out, Tonya walked into the kitchen with her curly hair up in a messy bun, wearing a thrown on hoodie.

Jean looked at her watch, "Okay, everyone let's wrap up breakfast so you can get to your first day of school on time."

They all grabbed their book bags and followed Jean to the front parking lot, where the X-Van was parked.

"We're going to school in the X-Van? Seriously?" Jake said with a frown.

"It has bulletproof windows, and it's large enough for all nine of you," Jean responded.

"We might as well show up on a parade float that says Bayville Freaks," Danny stated.

Jean sighed, "Cheer up. You're all gonna have a great day."

They all piled into the van while Jean spoke to Rachel.

"Are you sure you don't want me to drive you to school? I mean, it is your first day..." Jean said.

"I'll be fine, mom. I am an experienced driver," Rachel said assuredly.

Jean sighed and placed her hand on Rachel's cheek, "I know...just be safe."

Rachel smiled, "I will."

Meanwhile, Renea hurried down the stairs in an oversized sweatshirt and jeans. Remy and Rogue met her at the bottom of the steps.

She received a strong embrace from her father.

"Be safe at school, darlin," he said as he held her tight.

"I will, dad," she said.

Rogue opened her arms for a hug.

"They're waiting for me," Renea said coldly as she turned away and hurried out the doors toward the X-Van.

With all nine of the teens piled into the van, Rachel started the engine, and they were off to their first day of school.

 **BAYVILLE HIGH**

Rachel parked the X-Van in the parking lot of Bayville High. After she turned the engine off, they sort of sat there for a moment, silently listening to the sounds of their own fast-beating hearts.

Jake sighed, "Well, here goes nothing.."

They each walked out of the van as nearby students stopped in their tracks, glaring at them.

While walking toward the school, they could feel the burning gazes of their fellow classmates following them as they went. Hateful insults and threats were shot at them.

One guy shouted, "Get outta' hear you muti's!"

While another hollered out, "Go back to where you came from, FREAKS!"

Danny whirled around, his face red with anger. Before he could try to do something reckless, Adam grasped him and whispered, "It's not worth it, dude. Just keep moving."

Danny took a deep breath and followed.

* * *

They stood in front of a gray desk in the main office. At the desk sat a short old secretary name Mrs. Woods who was typing away at her computer. She had an annoyed expression that looked as if it were permanently apart of her demeanor.

"We're here to see Principle Creed for our class schedules," Rachel said.

Mrs. Woods groaned, not looking up from her computer, "Take a seat, the principle will be with you in a minute."

A few minutes passed, and the door to the Principal's office opened to a tall man in a structured dark suit. His chestnut brown hair was gelled back and a stern look remained in his blue eyes as he stared down at the nine teenagers.

"As you know, I am Principal Creed and this is my school. As Principal, I am charged with the responsibility of keeping each and every student on this campus safe, so all use of your mutant abilities on my campus will result in immediate expulsion and legal repercussions," the Principal explained, having added an emphasis of disgust when he said the word _mutant.  
_  
"None of us will use our powers," Adam stated.

Principal Creed said, "Good," then he handed Adam a stack of papers, "Your class schedules are in this stack. The bell will ring soon, so I suggest you head to class," he spoke coldly.

They walked out of the Principal's Office and looked at their schedules.

All of a sudden, the first bell of the day rang throughout the campus, signaling that all students should head to their first block classes. The hallway began to fill with students.

They all looked at each other, realizing that it was that dreaded time when they would have to take on the mutant-hating world separately.

They each went their separate ways toward their first period classes.

* * *

Mr. Kunis droned on and on about the Shakespearean sonnet, nearly putting his class to sleep.

Danny sat in his seat, bored out of his mind, so he doodled in his notebook. At first, it was just mindless squiggles and doodles, but in the center on his paper, he started drawing a girl, but not just any girl, a girl that had been occupying his mind for a while. He drew Talia. Not many people knew this about him, but Danny was an excellent drawer. He captured her likeness in the drawing from her long dark hair to the way her eyes slightly squinted when she smiled.

Suddenly, Danny felt a balled up piece of paper hit the back of his head, the sudden feeling making him jerk his pencil and mess up his masterpiece. He turned around slowly, giving the thrower a deathly glare.

A boy about his age waved at him. He had a head of greasy dark hair and dressed like he simply didn't care. Danny noticed that he sat with three other students who looked to be his friends because no one else sat near the group. The three other students consisted of a girl who looked about 17 with piercing blue eyes and platinum blonde hair, another girl with long jet-black hair and thick eyeliner, and a skinny guy with short platinum blonde hair who looked like he was being swallowed by his hoodie.

Danny turned back around and tried to salvage his drawing.

Rring! The bell rang signaling the end of the class period. Students began pouring out of the classroom. Just as Danny began to close his notebook, the blonde girl sped up beside him and held his notebook open.

"oooo...she's pretty," she said before she popped her bubble-gum in her mouth.

Danny slipped the notebook from her and closed it as the other three joined her. Danny gathered his belongings and tried to slip past the group, but the dark-haired boy walked in front of him.

"Woah-woah... wait a minute. I'm Tobias Tolansky, but everyone calls me Toby," the dark-haired boy stated. Danny hadn't noticed before, but Toby smelt like he hadn't showered in months. The rancid scent quickly filled his lungs as he inhaled a breath.

"I'm Trina Tolansky," the dark-haired girl spoke.

"I'm Ashley Maximoff," the blonde introduced herself before once again popping her gum.

"I'm Pieter," the small blonde guy said quietly.

They followed Danny into the hallway.

"What's your name?" Toby asked.

"Danny."

Ashley slipped her arm across his shoulder as she smoothly spoke, "Well, Danny, word on the street is you and your Institute buddies are mutants just. like. us." Pop! she popped her gum.

Danny cocked his head away from her questioningly as he asked, "Why do you care?"

The group gathered around him as Toby stated, "Ya' know, us mutis gotta' stick together."

"Look, I have a class to get to," Danny said as he pushed through the group and walked off to his next class.

* * *

"It smells like sweaty jock and stale gym socks in here," Renea stated as she meticulously applied a thick layer of pink gloss to her lips.

Rachel sat beside Renea on the bleachers in the gymnasium. They had PE together, and since it was the 1st day of school, the PE teacher, Coach Marks, didn't force the students to participate.

"Yeah..." Rachel sighed distractedly as she stared forward at nothing in particular with a slight smile on her face.

"Are you thinking about Adam?" Renea asked.

Rachel gasped, "No I'm not," she stated unconvincingly.

Renea laughed, "Honey, everyone knows you like him. It's so obvious."

Rachel asked quietly, "Do you think he knows?"

Renea spoke, "Adam is a smart guy, but he's still a guy. Guys really aren't that good at picking up on these things. You should tell him how you feel."

Rachel shook her head, "No way. It would make things weird between us... and what if he doesn't feel the same way?"

Renea turned to her, "Rachel, he would be an idiot not to like you back," she stated.  
 **  
**

* * *

Kat stifled through the overcrowded hallways of students as she tried to get to her locker. Her history teacher had just assigned a fifteen-pound textbook, and Kat didn't want to carry hers around all day, so she thought to quickly deposit it in her locker.

Once she finally succeeded in pushing her way through the torpid hoard of students, she performed her combination and found that her locker wouldn't budge. She did her combination over and over, but it wouldn't open. Kat huffed in frustration.

All of a sudden, she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned around to a tall and handsome guy who appeared to be about her age. He had golden blonde hair and soft green eyes. All of the anger left her as she stood, mesmerized by his green eyes.

"Uh..that's my locker," he said, breaking her from the trance.

"What? No, this is my locker," Kat stated matter-of-factly.

"Locker 234?" he asked.

Her eyes widened. Her locker number was 235. She slowly peered down at the locker number labeled just below the combination lock and saw the number 234. Her locker was beside his. She moved over.

"Sorry," she said with a nervous laugh.

He smirked, "It's okay. I'm Nicholas by the way."

"I'm Katrina, but everyone calls me Kat."

His eyes darted down to her t-shirt. "You listen to Sonic Youth?"

Kat looked down at her black and white Sonic Youth band t-shirt.

"Yeah, but not many people recognize the group," Kat said.

"I know right! They're so underrated," he said.

All of a sudden, the bell rang.

Nicholas grabbed his geometry book and shut his locker. "It was nice meeting you. See ya' around, Kat," he said as he walked off.

Kat leaned against her locker and sighed, "See ya."

* * *

Jake walked into his Algebra class. The class was for sophomores, but he had to take it even though he was a senior in order to graduate since he failed Algebra at his prior school. This was his most dreaded class, and it was his last class before lunch making him all the more anxious for it to be over as soon as possible.

As he walked in, his eyes met a familiar face.

"Johnny Moonstar!" he exclaimed loudly as he took a seat beside Johnny.

"I didn't think I'd see you today," Jake spoke quickly, not giving Johnny room to respond, "Oh, it doesn't matter. I'm just glad to see someone I recognize! I don't know anyone else in my classes. So, how's your day been going?"

"Uh...good," Johnny responded.

"That's good," Jake said.

Just before the bell rang, Talia slipped into the class, taking a seat on the other side of Johnny.

"Cutting it a little close," Jake whispered to her as Mr. Sanchez began taking attendance.

"I had to go to the lady's room," she whispered back.

For Jake, the class seemed to drone on as the teacher tediously lectured about the components of the unit circle. Jake found himself increasingly bored, and he knew he couldn't go on his phone because Mr. Sanchez had a very strict no-cellphone policy.

So, Jake decided to silently count the number of ceiling tiles, and once he had successfully counted a total of 132 ceiling tiles, he looked at the clock and saw that only 15 minutes had passed. He still had 65 minutes until lunch.

He turned his eyes to Johnny who was paying attention and taking thorough notes on the lecture.

 _"Johnny is so weird. He's always so quiet, and quiet people usually have the craziest thoughts,"_ Jake thought to himself.

Jake discreetly placed his pointer finger on his own temple as he proceeded to use his telepathy to delve into Johnny's mind.

He heard Johnny's thoughts: _"The radius of 90% is- wow, her handwriting is so neat, and her hair smells like vanilla and honey. She's so beautiful- I know she's wearing her image inducer, but she's so much more beautiful without it."_

Jake's eyes widened as he impulsively telepathically spoke into Johnny's mind, _"Oh-My-God, you like Talia!"_

Johnny turned to him rapidly, his brow furrowed as he thought, _"Get out of my head!"_

Jake continued, _"I get it. Talia is a total babe even with her blue skin and yellow eyes, and I know you've seen her in her uniform...it's tight in all the right places..."_

Johnny narrowed his eyes at Jake.

 _"Just ask her out, dude. I can tell she likes you,"_ Jake said telepathically.

Johnny turned to look forward at the board and tried his best to ignore Jake for the rest of the class period.

Eventually, the bell rang, signaling the end of the class period.

Jake wasted no time and quickly proceeded out of the classroom, toward the cafeteria for lunch.

After packing their stuff away in their book bags, Johnny and Talia started toward the cafeteria. Johnny walked beside her with his sweaty-palmed hands stuffed in his hoodie pockets.

He kept glancing at her from the corner of his eye, admiring the way her long shiny hair would slightly bounce with each step she took.

 _"Now is my chance,"_ he thought to himself. It was just him and her, which made it so much easier, but he was still nervous.

Nonetheless, Johnny cleared his throat then inquired quietly, "can I ask you something?"

Talia turned to him, her brown eyes large and reflecting the brightness of the hallway light, "sure."

He suddenly felt his mouth go dry as he stared into her eyes, uttering, "I...I...uh..."

Kat rushed toward them and grabbed Talia by the arm.

"Oh-My-God, I have to tell you something!" Kat exclaimed excitedly.

"What is it?" Talia asked, intrigued by the sudden eager nature of her friend.

"Wait, Johnny was gonna ask me something," Talia turned to Johnny, "what is it you wanted to ask me?"

"It's okay. We can talk later," Johnny stated before he walked off toward the cafeteria.

Kat began eagerly, "A guy talked to me! A really hot guy! His name is Nicholas, and his locker is right next to mine, and he likes the band Sonic Youth, and I like the band Sonic Youth!"

"Woah-woah-woah... is he a human?" Talia inquired.

Kat looked down at her shoes, her excited smile dissipating, "Yeah..."

Talia sighed, "Kat, just be careful. I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm not gonna get hurt. He seemed really nice..like maybe he might like me for me mutant-and-all."

 **A/N : That's all for this chapter. I wanted to include more, but I didn't want this chapter to be too long. Also, I'm an amateur writer, and I would really appreciate some critiques or if there's anything you think I should change or improve upon, feel free to leave a comment expressing it. **


	11. Chapter 10: First Day of School Pt2

**A/N:** **I'm back again with another chapter! Yay! I feel like it's been a long time since I last updated... anyway, I hope you keep reading and enjoy.**

* * *

 **BAYVILLE HIGH**

The usual chatter and chaotic discord of the Bayville High cafeteria pursued as Talia and Kat placed their trays down at their lunch table where they sat with their friends.

"So, how has everyone's day been going?" Rachel asked optimistically with a forced smile on her face.

"Horrible," Renea answered as she poked at the questionable slab of meat on her tray with her plastic fork.

"The only thing getting me through this day is the promise that it will all be over soon," Tonya responded somberly.

"Seriously, I'd rather have a training session with Professor Summers than be here," Danny added.

"C'mon guys, we got through most of the day, and nothing went extremely wrong," Adam stated encouragingly.

Just then, the loud Pmph! Pmph! Of someone smacking their palm against a microphone echoed through the entire cafeteria, quieting the masses of students and bringing their attention to the front of the cafeteria.

There stood Principal Creed, holding the microphone to his lips as he announced, "Can I get everyone's attention? Your senior class president and varsity football quarterback, Chad Lewis, has an announcement to make."

He handed the microphone over to Chad, a tall and muscularly built guy with long auburn hair and fierce dark eyes, donning a Bayville High varsity jacket.

Chad grasped the microphone tightly as he greeted excitably, "Hello, my Bayville Hawks!"

The cafeteria almost immediately erupted into an enthusiastic frenzy of cheering and clapping as the table where sat the nine mutants remained awkwardly quiet.

Once the cheering died down, Chad continued, "Now, I'm not here to talk about our amazing football team or upcoming fall dance; I'm here to talk about a problem, a problem that has been not only plaguing our student body but our communities, for years. I bet you're wondering what this problem is... well, this problem probably is in some of your classes. You probably walked past it today in the hallway without even knowing it. The problem is _mutants-_ "

Adam felt his heart sank to his stomach.

Chad went on, "-mutants have taken over our community and now, they're trying to take over our school."

Looking around, the mutants could tell that everyone in the cafeteria was staring at them with looks of fear mixed with disdain and utter hatred.

Sporadic shouts began emanating from the agitated crowds of teenagers:

"Leave muties!"

"No one wants you here!"

"Mutants don't belong here!"

"There is a way to deal with this problem," Chad began again, "I've funded a new club in our school known as B.A.M. or Bayville Against Mutants, and we will ensure that our school-"

Nicholas ran up to Chad and grabbed the microphone from him. Raising it to his lips, Nicholas began earnestly, "Stop! This is insane. This hatred toward mutants is doing more damage to our school and our community than anything. Mutants are people-"

Principal Creed snatched the microphone from Nicholas.

"That is all. You may all continue your lunch as normal," Creed announced before he walked out of the cafeteria, roughly dragging Nicholas by the arm.

Once the cafeteria door slammed shut behind them, providing privacy for their hallway conversation, Principal Creed started, "What on earth do you think you're doing? Are you trying to embarrass me!"

Nicholas sighed heavily, his chest rising and falling rapidly from the exhilaration he got from finally standing up in front of the entire school for what he believed in. Nicholas was usually quiet and reserved, but Chad's announcement sparked a fire in him.

Nicholas countered, "This isn't right, and you know it, dad. The mutant students at this school don't deserve to be treated this way. They are kids just like me-"

"-They are not like you! You are a human, and they are FREAKS!" Creed spoke irately with an air of disgust, "I will NOT allow my son to be a mutant supporter!" he shouted as he vehemently shook his fists. Overwhelmed with frustration, Creed walked off toward his office.

* * *

After the last bell of the school day rang, much to Kat's relieve, she could finally go home. Kat walked briskly down the hallway to her locker to collect her school books as she tried her best to ignore the cruel comments uttered about her as she went.

Nicholas stood at his locker, collecting his own materials, as Kat walked up and stood beside him, proceeding to open her own locker. It was silent for a moment, but they were both mutually aware of the other's presence despite the metal slab of Nicholas's locker door between them.

"Thank you for what you said today," Kat finally said, breaking the silence.

Nicholas closed his locker and turned to her, saying, "I-I don't agree with what they did to you and your friends at lunch today. It was horrible..and I just couldn't stand another minute of it."

Kat slightly smiled, "You might be the only human in this entire school that feels that way. Anyway, thank you for what you said. That was really brave of you, and it's nice to know that the entire school doesn't hate mutants." She shut her locker.

"Well, after what I pulled today, I'm sure none of my friends will ever talk to me again," Nicholas spoke fanning sadness.

Kat grinned, "Is that you're way of asking me to be your friend?"

Nicholas smiled, "No. That's my way of asking you to let me take you out for smoothies this Thursday after school..."

Kat struggled to hide her growing smile as she asked, "Do you take all of your friends out for smoothies?"

"No. Just the ones I really like," he replied with a smirk.

* * *

Almost as soon as the dismissal bell rang through the high school campus, Rachel dashed out of the school as she received glares and whispers from every student she passed. However, her only focus was making it to the X-Van so she could go home and finally put this horrible school day behind her.

Sadly, the universe wouldn't make it that easy for her. Once she finally made it passed the threshold of the front doors and stepped onto the sidewalk, she suddenly felt someone's body slam into hers, causing her to fall against the rough sidewalk and drop all of her books.

Chad Lewis, a couple of his football buddies, and two girls in cheerleading outfits looked down at her as she scrambled for her books. One of the cheerleaders was Samantha Edwards. Samantha was the head cheerleader of the Bayville cheer squad and one of the hottest girls at school as denoted by her boyfriend, Chad. Her long jet-black hair was perfectly gelled back in a high ponytail and she had a figure that would make any girl envious. Beside her was her best friend and fellow cheerleader, Lorna Dane. Lorna had long dark brown hair that draped across her back and perfectly arched eyebrows that formed a scowl on her face as she glared at Rachel.

Rachel rose slowly with her items loosely gripped in her hands, so stunned and confused that she couldn't even form the words in her mind to say.

"Where do you think you're going, mutie?" Chad scowled down at her with his thick arms crossed over his letterman jacket-clad chest.

Rachel looked down at the sidewalk as she uttered, "I'm just trying to leave," she looked up at the group of bullies as she continued, "Isn't that what you want?"

Lorna retorted, "No, stupid. We want you and the other freaks to leave Bayville High and never come back."

Rachel frowned, "Just, let me get passed," she urged.

Chad firmly blocked her as he uncrossed his arms and looked down at Rachel. She was substantially shorter than him and looked extremely unintimidating, but Chad knew that she was a dangerous threat. When the eight second-generation mutants were exposed on every local news network, Chad followed the stories and absorbed every ounce of knowledge he could find about the mutants. He knew that Rachel possessed some potentially destructive fire powers, making her extremely powerful.

"Why don't you make me move," Chad said defiantly.

Rachel stood silently as passing students stopped and watched the altercation. She knew that he was trying to bait her, but she was smarter than that. She wouldn't use her powers.

"C'mon mutie I know you're strong. Use your powers. Make me move," he said as he pushed her backward, causing her to reacquaint her books with the sidewalk.

"Hey!" Renea exclaimed as she and Adam approached the scene.

Renea fearlessly charged toward Chad and stood with her face centimeters away from his, "Leave her alone. She might be afraid to use her powers, but I'm not!"

Chad smirked, "Well alright then, put on a show for the whole school and let's see how long it take Creed to expel you freaks."

Renea balled her hands into fists as she looked Chad dead in his smug brown eyes.

Adam placed his hand on her shoulder, and in an attempt to quell her dangerous anger, he stated, "Renea, they aren't even worth it."

She sighed heavily, not taking her eyes off of Chad.

"You mutants won't last one week here," Chad said in defeat before he and his posse walked off in the other direction.

Adam and Renea turned to Rachel.

"Are you okay?" Renea asked her.

Rachel sighed, "I'm fine, thanks."

Adam kneeled down to help her gather her scattered books. As Rachel and Adam reached for the same book, their hands met, her hand softly overlapping his.

Rachel pulled her hand away quickly as her cheeks uncontrollably burned red.

Adam lifted up the book and handed it to her, "here."

"Thank you," she said as she grasped the book.

"Let's just hurry and get to the van before something else happens," Renea stated.

The trio hurried to the parking lot, but when they arrived, they stopped in their tracks, mouths ajar in shock at what they saw. The X-van was spray painted in crimson paint _Go Away Mutants!_

 **XAVIER INSTITUTE**

"You can't make us go back to that school!" Renea exclaimed vehemently.

"Yeah, that place sucks," Danny stated.

"How could you send us there?!"

The eight teens went off as they loudly vocalized their objections and grievances to Jean, Scott, and Ororo.

"Woah-woah... can everyone please calm down," Ororo said, quieting the uproar.

"So, it was really that bad, huh?" Jean asked.

The teens nodded in agreement.

"It was terrible! The entire school hates us!" Renea exclaimed, "You saw what they did to the X-van!"

Scott and Jean looked at each other then returned their gaze to the teens as Scott began, "I get it. I know it's hard. We had to go through the same thing after we were exposed. I know it's scary to have to face people that hate you for things you cannot control but trust me, by being there you're showing the community that you are not the dangerous mutants they think you are."

"So, we have to prove our worth to society? That's total bull!" Tonya said as she crossed her arms and sat back in her chair.

"However unfair it may be, it is the reality of our situation. We're mutants and the world out there doesn't trust us, but by you all attending school and being the upstanding individuals we all know you can be, you can change the narrative against mutants," Ororo professed.

* * *

After the meeting ended, the teens solemnly dispersed to their bedrooms, mentally preparing themselves to have to face another school day in the morning.

Jake walked beside Renea.

"So, this sucks," Jake stated.

"That's an understatement," Renea remarked with her brow furrowed.

Jake gazed at her. Even in a baggy oversized sweatshirt with streaks of her long brown hair messily framing her face, she still looked irresistible to him.

"Hey, maybe we could help each other forget this crappy day," he suggested as his hands met her tiny waist.

Renea pushed him away.

"Woah- what's up? You've been acting shady to me all day," Jake said.

"Don't go there, Jake..." she fumed.

"Don't tell me you don't remember that night we had together. In my parent's room..." he said.

"Be quiet! I was drunk, and that was a mistake. It never should have happened," she whispered sharply.

Jake was taken back by her response as his smug green eyes were suddenly infiltrated by a look of hurt. "It wasn't a mistake for me," he uttered softly before he turned away from her and headed up the steps to his room.

* * *

Talia stood outside of Johnny's bedroom, knocking on the door a couple of times.

After about a minute, Johnny opened the door, an expression of shock written on his face when he saw her.

"Hey," she greeted with a smile.

"H-hi..Talia," he uttered nervously, his warm complexion taking on a red tone at the sight of her.

"Can I come in?" she asked.

"Y-yeah," he said as he moved aside so she could enter the room. It was obvious that the bedroom was shared by two different people. Johnny shared the room with Danny, and while Johnny's side of the room was fairly organized and clean, Danny's side of the room was scattered with junk and stray papers.

Talia turned to Johnny and began, "So, what did you want to talk to me about earlier?"

Johnny's brown eyes widened as he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand.

 _"I only rehearsed this in front of the bathroom mirror twenty times... Will you go out with me? Will you go out with me? It's not that hard. Just say it,_ " he thought.

"I-I...uh...I," he stuttered nervously.

Talia looked concerned, "Are you okay?"

"HaveyouseenDragonSlayerII?" he asked in one breath, all of his words flowing together.

"Dragon Slayer II? No. I want to see it, but it's only in theaters right now..." Talia answered as she gazed up at him.

"We could go together- to the movies- if you want..." Johnny suggested.

"Sure. Is Friday night good for you?" Talia inquired.

"Sure...yes..that's perfect..." Johnny said, his nerves declining.

Talia yawned softly, hovering her hand over her mouth.

"Well, it's getting late, so I'm gonna head to bed. Good night, Johnny," Talia said as she moved toward the door.

"Good night," Johnny replied before he softly shut his bedroom door behind her. Once the door was shut, he leaned back against it and let out a deep breath. A smile slowly crept across his face as he thought, _"I have a date on Friday."_


	12. Chapter 11: Lets Get Involved!

**A/N:** **It's been a while, but I'm back with another chapter. To be honest, my life has been pretty hectic lately, and I've been dealing with a lot of personal issues and situations, but I'm trying to crank out as many chapters as possible for you guys. Anyway, enjoy the chapter...**

 **XAVIER INSTITUTE**

Beep! Beep! Beep!

A soft groan erupted from Danny's slightly parted lips as his cell-phone alarm clock went off, signaling the beginning of the long dreary day ahead of him. He languidly stretched his arm toward his nightstand and clicked the stop button on the alarm. He tossed his legs over the bed, and once his bare feet met the cold wood floor, he immediately regretted not pressing the snooze button and enjoying an extra six minutes of slumber in his warm bed. It was too late now, plus, he had to wake up two hours earlier for a morning training session before school.

He yawned and stretched his arms as he looked out the window. The moon was bright in the jet black sky as it was merely 4:00 a.m. Only the nocturnal animals were awake at this hour, and reluctantly, so was Danny. Despite his reservations, he groggily stood up and rustled his hand through his dark brown locks of hair.

Danny grabbed his shower caddy, which held his three-in-one shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, his washcloth, and his shaving cream. With that in hand, he headed to the bathroom.

When he reached the bathroom, he found that it was occupied as steam from the running shower flowed from under the closed door. He rolled his eyes in annoyance as he thought Johnny was probably in there using all of the hot water.

Danny huffed, then impatiently knocked on the door and asked, "Are you almost done in there?"

After a couple of minutes, the door opened, and there stood Talia with nothing covering her glistening blue body except a soft white towel. Her long dark hair was dripping wet and slightly curled as it trailed down her back. Her golden eyes stared back at him as Danny was speechlessly stunned.

"Sorry. Kat was using the bathroom in our hallway, and Johnny said it would be okay if I used yours. I'll hurry up," she explained.

"No- don't sweat it. Take your time. You're fine," Danny responded politely.

Talia smiled before she receded back into the bathroom to finish getting ready.

* * *

"Remember, the goal is that the entire team gets to the platform," announced Storm from the Control Room as she stood with Jean and watched the training session.

Down in the Danger Room, the young students were running a team-building exercise in which the ultimate goal was to get the whole team to make it to the platform without anyone being hit by the paintball guns that periodically emerged out of the walls and the floors to shoot them as they tried to make it to the platform.

They were doing well at first with Renea and Tonya being the first members to make it to the platform followed by Jake.

"C' mon guys!" Jake called to the other six team members.

As Rachel and Adam were making their way toward the platform one of the guns materialized beside Adam, but before it could shoot him, Rachel aimed her fist at it and shot a blast of fire, disintegrating the paintball gun effortlessly.

Before Adam could utter the word "thanks", Rachel felt a sudden stinging pain at the center of her back and knew she had been hit. She turned around and saw that one of the guns had emerged from behind her without her even knowing. Being shot meant she was out of the exercise.

With Rachel being the first one out, she had to go up to the Control Room and watch the exercise continue with the remaining students.

The only ones left to make it to the platform were Kat, Danny, Talia, and Johnny.

Johnny's technique was to run while alternatively moving his body to avoid the projectile balls of orange paint.

Meanwhile, Kat and Talia made it to the platform as Talia used her magical force-bolts to destroy the paintball guns that intercepted their path. Now, it was only Johnny and Danny as the boys ran side by side through the obstacle course. It was obviously easier for Danny because he could just phase his body through the paintball blasts, but the ability to phase required him to concentrate, which was difficult due to the sporadic nature of the paintball guns.

They were getting closer to the platform. Danny turned his head and saw that Johnny was slightly ahead of him, and that's when Danny's competitive nature began to kick in. To his right, he saw a paintball gun emerge from the wall. Without thinking, he shoved Johnny with his right shoulder, sending him directly into the gun's line of fire.

* * *

Jean sighed while she addressed the nine teens assembled in the Control Room after the training session, "Well, there were many mistakes during that session-"

"-Everything was fine up until Danny pushed Johnny," Renea stated irritatedly.

Jean continued, "That was not the only problem. Rachel, while I do agree that helping your teammates is important, you should also make sure to watch your back."

Adam glanced at Rachel.

Storm stated, "Overall, I feel that many of you performed well, but each of you needs to improve your abilities to work together as a team."

* * *

On the way to the locker rooms, Talia and Johnny walked side by side, which Danny found strange. He couldn't take his eyes off of them. In a strange-obsessive sort of way, he wished he had super-hearing so he could hear exactly what they were saying.

He saw Talia beam a smile at Johnny and giggle in the adorable way that she does.

The guys went into their locker room and the girls went in the other.

The guy's locker room was filled with the pungent scent of Axe body spray.

"So, Johnny, I saw you talking to Talia. Did you finally grow the balls to ask her out?" Jake asked as he showered himself with Axe.

Danny's eyes widened as he overheard the conversation.

Johnny smiled bashfully, his cheeks burning red, "Me and Talia are going to see Dragon Slayer II on Friday Night," he responded.

Jake slapped him on his bare back, "Honestly, dude, I didn't think you had it in ya'. I mean, if you didn't ask her out, I would have. I mean, she has a FINE body. That spandex uniform fits her in all of the right places-"

Jake stopped speaking when he saw that Adam was glaring at him.

"That's my sister," Adam stated flatly.

Jake scratched the back of his neck awkwardly as he uttered, "...sorry, dude..."

After getting changed, Johnny approached Danny in the hallway by walking up beside him.

Danny continued walking as he pretended that Johnny wasn't there.

"Hey, Danny... are we cool?" Johnny asked him hesitantly. Johnny hated confrontation and tried to avoid it at all costs.

Danny looked forward, avoiding eye contact with him, "What do you mean?" he asked disinterestedly.

Johnny explained, "I mean, you shoved me during the training session today- but, there's no hard feelings or anything... I just wanna make sure we're good."

Danny turned to him with a serious expression on his face and stated flatly, "Whatever, Moonstar."

He pushed passed Johnny and walked into the kitchen.

 **BAYVILLE HIGH**

Tonya stood at her locker, grabbing her chemistry book for her next period class. With the heavy book in hand, she shut her locker door and saw a certain blonde staring at her and chewing bubble gum while leaning back against the adjacent locker.

Speechlessly, Tonya couldn't stop herself from staring at the girl. Her long platinum blonde hair cascaded over her right shoulder. Her sultry blue eyes were seductive in the way that they stared back at Tonya, and the girl wore an outfit that was an obvious dress code violation, but that only increased her allure.

"Hey there, Freshman," the blonde greeted slyly with a smirk and a pop of her pink bubble gum.

"Hi," Tonya responded shyly.

"So, you're Tonya, right? One of the mutant kids from the Xavier Institute?" the blonde asked.

"Yeah," Tonya replied as she looked down at the black converse sneakers on her feet.

"I'm Ashley Maximoff," the blonde said.

Tonya met her gaze as she uttered, "Maximoff? As in Pietro Maximoff?"

Ashley shrugged as she responded disinterestedly, "Yup. The big bad Quicksilver is my dad."

Ashley moved closer to Tonya, closing the gap between them as she asked, "So, where are ya' heading?"

Tonya blushed, "C-chemistry with Mr. Bragg."

Ashley rolled her eyes and stated, "I swear he's been teaching at this school since it opened."

Tonya cracked a smile.

Ashley turned her head. At the other side of the hallway, her crew, which consisted of Toby, Trina, and Pieter, stood observing them.

She returned her gaze to Tonya. "Well, I have to head to gym. So, I'll catch you later, Freshman," Ashley said before she turned and joined her friends.

Tonya watched her speechlessly as she walked away, her long blonde hair bouncing as she went.

"Come on guys, we should at least try to get involved at this school," Rachel began as she received no response from her seven sullen peers. She continued, "Well, after school, I'm going to apply for Student Council."

The eight mutants sat quietly at their lunch table. Each had a tray with a slab of mystery meatloaf, a small carton of chocolate milk, and a cup of mixed fruit.

"Rachel, I hate to break it to you, but everyone at this school hates us," Renea stated as she poked the jiggling slab of questionable meat on her tray.

Adam sipped his chocolate milk before he responded, "It's difficult for us to get involved. Back in Florida, I played varsity soccer since Freshman year, but now, coaches at this school wouldn't even consider letting me on the team."

"Mutants are banned from participating in school sports because _we have unfair physical advantages_..." Jake added bitterly.

"Okay, but there's more than just sports at this school. There are clubs and organizations that we could join," Rachel stated.

* * *

While many of the other students dashed to the doors following the ring of the dismissal bell, Talia started for the auditorium. She went briskly, in an unusually stiff manner as she grasped her script tightly in her right hand.

They were holding auditions for the school play. This year, Bayville High School's drama department was producing Shakespeare's _The Tempest_.

Talia had a lot of experience in drama. At her old school in Florida, she was extremely active in the theater, playing as the lead female in many of the school's most successful plays. She had always been praised for her acting abilities, but despite this, she couldn't shake the nerves that welled up inside of her as she headed to the audition.

Her nerves were not unwarranted. Everyone at Bayville High made it perfectly clear that they didn't want mutants there. But, even though they might not give her a chance, Talia rationalized to herself that it was worth it to at least try.

What made it even worse was that there was no one to support her. Kat had a date with Nicholas, which Talia insisted Kat attend despite her audition being at the same time. Talia was beginning to regret that decision as loneliness crept into her at the thought that everyone else had gone back to the Institute... or so she thought.

All of a sudden, Danny came from around the corner and approached her.

"Do you mind if I watch you audition?" He asked with a supportive smile on his face.

Talia frowned and rolled her eyes as she responded, "Yeah, actually I do mind," she stated with a hint of an attitude in her tone as she persisted, "I saw you shove Johnny this morning, and I don't know what you're problem is, but don't take it out on him."

As she turned to walk away from him, Danny grasped her arm to stop her from leaving.

"Wait, Talia, I'm sorry. I didn't want to upset you. I'm your friend, and I want to be there for you. Let me support you," Danny said earnestly.

Talia sighed, then looked up at him with a slight smile on her lips, "Okay.. come on."

* * *

Mrs. Patterson sat in the auditorium as she looked over the list of students auditioning for the High School production of Shakespeare's _The Tempest_.

Mrs. Patterson was the drama director. She had a wide-set body and long silver hair that she always wore in a tight bun at the top of her head.

At her right sat Lorna Dane. Lorna was the "golden child" of Bayville High School's theater program. Mrs. Patterson adored her and often awarded her the lead female role in many of the school's productions.

For the production of _the Tempest_ , Lorna had auditioned for the lead female role of Miranda, daughter of the main character, Prospero. Lorna sat beside Mrs. Patterson with a content smile on her face as she felt that the role of Miranda would easily be hers.

Talia and Danny walked into the auditorium. Danny took a seat, while Talia approached Mrs. Patterson.

Talia stated, "I'm auditioning for the role of Miranda."

Lorna glared at her.

"What's your name?" Mrs. Patterson asked.

"Talia Wagner," she responded.

Mrs. Patterson looked for her name on the list.

"Here it is... okay, go on stage and recite the lines from a scene," Mrs. Patterson directed.

Danny's eyes followed Talia as she stepped onto the stage to recite her memorize lines, but from the corner of his eye, he noticed Lorna lean toward Mrs. Patterson and whisper something to her.

"That girl is one of those mutants," Lorna whispered.

Mrs. Patterson turned to her with her mouth gaping in shock.

Meanwhile, Talia stood at the center of the stage, completely oblivious to what was going on in the audience.

She took a deep breath and belted out the lines, "If by your art, my dearest father, you have  
Put the wild waters in this roar, allay them.  
The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch,  
But that the sea, mounting to the welkin's cheek,  
Dashes the fire out. O, I have suffered  
With those that I saw suffer: a brave vessel.  
Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her,  
Dash'd all to pieces. O, the cry did knock  
Against my very heart. Poor souls, they perish'd.  
Had I been any god of power, I would  
Have sunk the sea within the earth or ere

It should the good ship so have swallow'd and  
The fraughting souls within her."

Talia sighed and closed her mouth once she finished her lines. Her eyes scanned Mrs. Patterson, but she struggled to read her expression.

Mrs. Patterson held the bridge of her glasses as she stated, "Talia, I'm going to be honest with you. Your performance was subpar at best, and it's just not what I'm looking for to portray the role of Miranda in this production. Maybe you would be better in the backstage crew."

Talia's countenance fell.

Lorna grinned cruelly as she leaned forward in her seat and chimed in, "Better yet, maybe you can have a role in the play. You would be perfect to play the role of Caliban AKA the hideous monster slave of Prospero and Miranda. I think you would fit the role perfectly."

Laughter began to come from nearly all areas of the auditorium. Even Mrs. Patterson stifled a giggle at Talia's expense.

Talia quickly walked off of the stage and stormed out of the auditorium. Danny got up and went after her.

When he caught up to her in the hallway, she was leaning against the lockers.

"I'm so stupid. I never should have auditioned," she stated somberly as her eyes held a gloomy expression.

He placed a comforting hand on her shoulder as he said, "Hey, don't let what they said get to you. You did amazing."

She pulled away from him, exclaiming, "You don't get it! I'll never be anything but the freaky blue girl!" She looked down at the image-inducer on her wrist as she continued in a low voice, "Even this machine can't hide how hideously different I am..."

Danny placed his hand under her chin and raised her face to meet his gaze as he spoke earnestly, "That's not true, Talia. You're talented, funny, sweet, and beautiful. If they can't see how amazing you are then screw them."

Talia's eyes widened, and her lips parted as she said, "You think I'm beautiful?"

Danny smiled, "Yes, and if I were you, I'd play the role of Caliban just to show those theater geeks how truly talented you are."

Her mouth formed a smile.

* * *

Rachel stayed after school that morning as well. As the dismissal bell rang, she headed up the steps to room B204, where they were holding the Student Council Meeting. Once up the staircase, her nerves began to set in. At her old school in Colorado, Rachel never had to struggle to be accepted since she was rather liked by most people she came across due to her friendly personality, but now that she was exposed as a mutant, she was afraid of being judged because of it.

She took a deep breath as she stood in front of the door to room B204. Even if it was a longshot of getting elected into the council, she at least had to try because she owed that to herself and the other mutants at Bayville High.

As she walked into the room, she was greeted by the shocked stares of several students, one of them being Samantha Edwards, the Student Council president.

"Uh... what are you doing here?" Samantha asked coldly.

Rachel cleared her throat then replied, "I'm here for the Student Council meeting."

"You want to join?" Samantha asked.

"Yes."

Samantha sighed condescendingly as she began, "Look, Rebecca-"

"Rachel," Rachel corrected her.

"Whatever- there has never been a mutant member of the Bayville High Student Council. It's never been done. If it ever did happen our school would most likely experience complete and utter destruction, and no one wants that. It's dangerous enough that you mutants have to come to our school at all, and now you want to be represented in our council. Not a chance and Principal Creed would never allow it," Samantha finished passionately.

Rachel let out a heavy sigh as she looked down at the ground and said, "Okay. I'll leave."

Walking out of the room, Rachel headed back toward the steps. As she went, she passed another classroom with its door cracked open. It was pitch-black in the room except for the light from the TV, which was playing a video. Rachel stopped in her tracks as she peered curiously through the crack at the television screen. The video was an old news broadcast from the nineties. Her father appeared on the screen. He was much younger and thinner and wore a different X-Men uniform, but it was obvious that it was him by his brown hair and characteristic red visor. In the video, he seemed to be fighting some gigantic robot, which the news broadcaster called a sentinel.

She hadn't realized it since she was so entranced by the video, but one of the students in the classroom had noticed her and began calling out to her, "Hey! Do you want to join our club?"

Rachel backed away from the door suddenly as she replied, "Oh.. sorry. I was just walking by."

A girl with curly red hair responded, "It's no problem. Come on in!"

Rachel smiled slightly as she walked into the room. There were only three students in the room not including Rachel. One of them was the girl with curly red hair. The second appeared to be a Freshman and was a short guy with cropped black hair and large glasses on his face. The third appeared to be a Senior and was a tall guy with short curly hair and large brown eyes that peered widely at Rachel.

"Oh my God, Shelby! Do you know who she is?" the senior male student asked the girl.

"I'm Rachel," Rachel stated with an awkward wave of her hand.

"We know who you are! Rachel Summers with the ability to generate and manipulate fire. Also the daughter of Scott Summers AKA Cyclops and Jean Grey-Summers," the Freshman male student stated matter-of-factly.

"How do you know that?" Rachel asked curiously.

"We've been following information about the X-Men for the longest time. We're watching old footage of the X-Men right now! We love you guys!" the curly redhead named Shelby exclaimed.

"We think you and your parents are amazing! It must be so cool being a mutant superhero!" the senior stated.

Rachel was speechlessly surprised.

"Sorry, where are our manners... I'm Shelby Goolinsky," the girl introduced.

"I'm David Mumand," the Freshman male stated.

"I'm Kyle Henson," the Senior said.

"What's your club?" Rachel asked.

Kyle replied, "We're the MLC, which stands for Mutant Lovers Club, and I'm the president."

"We didn't vote on that," countered Kyle.

"I chose the name," Shelby chimed, "and I made cookies for the meeting. Chocolate chip and oatmeal, help yourself."

"Is this everyone?" Rachel asked as she looked around the classroom.

David responded, "Yeah...It's pretty much just the three of us... most of the students at this school don't share our views on mutants. You're our first mutant member... if you choose to join... which we really hope you do."

Rachel thought for a moment as she looked at all of their hopeful faces. A smile spread across her face as she decided, "Yes."


End file.
